Help Me Forget
by SupahStarmon
Summary: Rough break-ups can happen. Unfortunately, Honoka had to go through it this time. She thought she found the one she loves, and now they're apart. How will she find some sense of happiness now that she's all alone?
1. Chapter 1

Honoka and Maki were in the music room, sitting on the piano bench. As Maki was playing, Honoka heard how sour and wrong the notes were.

"Maki-chan? What's wrong?" Honoka asked innocently.

"I-It's nothing, Honoka," Maki said as she lifted her hands away from the keys.

That was not going to slide by Honoka.

She sighed. "We talked about this, Maki-chan. We have to learn to open up more. You know, talk about our problems."

The red-head shook her head. "I don't know if you would want to hear this."

"Of course I want to!" Honoka took a hold of Maki's hands. "If there's anything wrong with my girlfriend, I want to do anything to help her!"

Maki's tears fell faster after hearing Honoka's kind words. "You're too kind, Honoka."

"What?"

"My father…he found out about us. He wants us…to break up," she finally said.

"W-What?" Honoka said again, but for a different reason.

"He doesn't agree with our relationship. And mother agrees with him. Right now, I have to worry about school."

"T-That's okay! They're right!" Honoka desperately said. "I'll let you study! We…We won't hang out after school then! We have time during school. And it's almost the end of school!"

"I wish it was that easy, Honoka."

"They let you do idol practice!"

"And that's why they aren't too worried about that now."

"That's good! Right?"

Maki nodded her head. "They're more worried about who I'm dating."

Honoka looked at her girlfriend confusedly. "What's wrong with me, Maki-chan?"

"Nothing is wrong with you, Honoka. It's just the fact that you are a girl."

The orange-haired girl scrunched her face. "That's stupid! There's nothing wrong about that!"

"You and I may not see it like that, but my parents do." Maki stood up from the piano bench and walked to the window. "They're traditionalists. You know, a man and a woman should be married and have children."

"We can adopt! There's nothing wrong with that!" Honoka quickly stood up and turned to Maki.

"That won't stop the fact that they won't agree with our relationship."

"Then live with me and my family! They love you, and they are happy with our relationship!"

"I would love to, Honoka…But, I can't just disobey them. I have my future planned out, and they'll be paying for my university degree."

"Wait." Honoka placed a hand on Maki's shoulder. "You're saying that we need to break up because of money?"

"It's not just money, Honoka!" Maki raised her voice as she shrugged off Honoka's hand. "It's my future. I've been working hard at becoming a doctor, you know that."

"Of course I do! I've been with you since for two years, Maki-chan!"

"So, you know that this is important to me. I can't just throw it away after I've been working so hard at it."

Those words made Honoka's heart break, even further than it already was.

"So…we were nothing then? We worked hard at building our relationship, and now you're throwing it away?"

"I don't mean it like that! We have the future, Honoka!"

"But what about now, Maki-chan!" Honoka hugged Maki's waist and held her tightly. "I don't want to lose what we have. But…it sounds like you don't love me anymore."

"I still love you, Honoka!"

"Then why break up?! Because of your future? I want to be with you now and forever! And that's where my future is!"

Maki struggled to release from Honoka's embrace, despite the burning urge to return it. "You're in your third year, Honoka. You've thought about where you were going to go, right?"

"I did! But, it always had you in my mind! And now, I don't even know what to do anymore."

Maki was struggling to think of her words. "I…We…We can still have a future, Honoka. After university and everything, we can get together again."

"You're saying that while wanting to break up?" The orange-haired girl's hold was weakening. "Why can't we just be together-"

"I don't **want** to break up, Honoka! But…it's what's best for both of us. We can focus on our futures and we can be together again."

Honoka tightened her hug again. "Don't play with my emotions, Maki-chan. I love you. Tell me that you love me."

Maki placed a hand atop of Honoka's. "I do. I love you so much, Honoka."

There was a glimmer of hope that Maki wouldn't let her go. "Tell me that we don't have to break up. That we can have a future together starting right now."

Maki wanted desperately to say yes to Honoka. But, she knew that it would be better for them. Weighing the options, they would be able to see each other again once everything was finished. Once Maki finished her university degree, she would have control on her life. She liked her parent's line of work, and it would only benefit her by being a doctor as well. She and Honoka would live happily ever after, as they say. Maki would have credentials for being a very well-trained doctor, so she wouldn't need her parent's hospital for the money. She and Honoka would be able to live their life the way they wanted to. They would have a future together.

"We could have a better future, Honoka. We won't be apart for long. We-"

 _ **THUD!**_

Honoka wanted to regret harshly pushing Maki into the windowsill. She saw Maki clutching her stomach, writhing in pain.

But after saying I love you.

She just let her go?

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU, MAKI-CHAN!" Honoka yelled as she ran out the door and slammed it.

She kept running through the halls, wanting to leave the place. She quickly got her things and ran, tears filling her view. As she was about to leave the school gates, she collided into a person.

"Ow! God, what the hell?" A familiar high voice said. "Wait, Honoka?"

"Nico-chan?" She barely could say.

"I was going to talk you out, but you look awful. What's wrong?" Nico started to stand back up, but she was quickly held down by a whimpering Honoka. "Honoka?"

"It hurts, Nico-chan!" She said.

Nico didn't know what that meant, but she didn't want to leave Honoka in this state. "Alright, it's okay. Just follow me. We'll head to my apartment."

Without a word, Nico and Honoka made their way to the said apartment.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed the angsty introduction. I'm working hard to get more chapters finished, and I can see where I want this to go. However, despite having a week long break I need to focus on my school work.**

 **Fair warning, this story is going to have some heaviness to it. I won't spoil what is going to happen (as I can see it, but I don't have it written out yet), but it's going to be much more dark than my other stories.**

 **Please leave follows/favourites if you liked this, and leave reviews.**

 **Thanks for Reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Honoka, give me your phone," Nico demanded, albeit in a soft tone. Honoka was crying like someone in her family died, which might as well be the reason. So, Nico had to be patient with her.

"Hello?" Honoka's mother said from the other side.

"Hi. This is Yazawa Nico. Honoka will be staying at my apartment for a while."

"What?" The mother said. "Why is that, Nico?"

"Well, I was going to visit Otonokizaka. As I was walking there, I collided with Honoka. I saw her crying and she was in not in a state to face her family. You would want to see her like bubbly self, but I couldn't bring myself to let you see her like this."

"Oh my gosh. Is she still crying?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I wanted to call before I went to talk to her."

Nico heard a sigh from the other side of the phone. "Well, thank you for calling. And also for being such a good friend to Honoka."

"Well, it's the least I could do."

"Have a good day, Nico. And thank you again."

"You too, Mrs. Kousaka."

As she took the phone away from her ear, she could only hear the normally energetic girl crying profusely. She placed Honoka's phone on the table and took a seat next to the crying girl. "Honoka, what's wrong?"

She got no response, other than the continual crying. Instead of trying to pry more answers from her, Nico went into her motherly side. She brought herself over and rested Honoka's head on her legs. "Shh…" Nico said as she was stroking Honoka's hair.

It seemed to calm her down, as the crying was subsiding. "Now, what happened, Honoka?"

"Maki-chan…she broke up with me…" Honoka was able to say.

"R-Really?" Nico stuttered out from hearing this. She was trying her best to be comforting to Honoka. However, she couldn't help but squeal internally. _O_ _h my god! I have a chance to be with Maki!_

"Nico-chan…you can't go for her," Honoka bluntly stated.

Nico froze. "W-What do you mean, H-Honoka?"

"You can't play dumb with me, Nico-chan. I know that you like Maki-chan."

She called Nico out, and Nico couldn't counter back. She sighed. "Fine. You win."

"Well, stop loving her. Or else, you'll be hurt."

Nico stopped petting Honoka. "What do you mean? I'm free to like whoever, but you're saying that I can't love Maki?"

"It's the reason why she broke up with me."

Nico sat Honoka up and made themselves face each other. "She hurt you and she's the one who broke up with you?"

Honoka nodded, with her tears still falling onto the couch. "Her parents didn't want her to be with me. Because I'm a girl. I thought that Maki-chan wouldn't let that stop her. That she would choose me because she loves me. But…no. She said that she loves me, but she's not willing to be my girlfriend anymore. Because she needs her parents to pay for university. I hate it!"

Honoka curled herself into a ball on the couch. Hearing everything that happened with the two made Nico understand the heaviness of the situation. "Hey...Honoka." The orange-haired girl didn't budge. "Maybe she had good intentions?"

"How could she, Nico-chan!" Honoka jolted up and looked down at her senior. "She talked about how we could have a future. But why can't we build one now?!" Honoka wrapped her arms around Nico's neck and cried into the girl's shoulder.

"Right." Nico returned the embrace. She knew how straightforward Honoka was. Hell, everyone knew about it. Honoka would want a love that can last forever. One that can't be dropped and be picked back up later. It made Nico look at Maki in a different light.

"I just realized," Honoka said, "that she kept it hidden from her parents. She couldn't even trust herself with our relationship. Not put enough trust in herself to say anything to them. I hate her!"

Nico heard those words, but she knew something. "You're lying, Honoka. You still love her, don't you?"

The orange-haired girl broke down and nodded. "I love her so much!"

Nico went back to stroking Honoka's hair. "I know..."

They stayed like that for quite a while, with Honoka sobbing into Nico's shoulder and Nico stroking her hair.

It seemed like Honoka started to calm down since her sobbing was getting quieter. "You feel any better?" Nico asked.

In response, Honoka roughly kissed Nico on the lips.

They stayed like that for a few seconds. The shock of it made Nico freeze in her spot, but she quickly recovered and pushed Honoka off. "What the fuck, Honoka?!"

Her small stature was a curse as Honoka was able to push Nico down onto the couch and continued to plant kisses all over Nico.

"Ho-noka! Stop…doing…this!" Nico struggled, but she kept feeling tears fall onto her face.

"HELP ME FORGET, NICO-CHAN!"

Nico had a hold on Honoka's wrists, but she stopped trying to push Honoka off. "W-What?"

Honoka brought her head down to Nico's chest. "I don't want to love Maki-chan anymore. And loving her will just hurt you, Nico-chan. It's what's best for us."

The orange-haired girl continued to plant kisses all over Nico. The shorter girl tried to protest, but was getting lost in the kisses and the words that Honoka said.

 _Maybe…maybe Honoka is right. If Maki would break up with her because she would obey her parent's wishes. To break the heart of the person she loves…she would do that to me, right?_

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt each button on her shirt opening. Each time, she felt Honoka's lips press onto her skin, sending a shiver down her spine. It was short lived, as she got over her pleasure to stop Honoka again. "Honoka, wait!" Nico used her strength to sit back up and to hold Honoka away by the shoulders. "I know you're hurting. But, how far do you want to go?"

"Any lengths, Nico-chan! I don't want to ever love her again!" Honoka desperately said.

"You would even have sex with me?"

Honoka cupped Nico's cheeks and looked her square in the eyes. "Take me, Nico-chan. Be my first time."

"We can't go back if we do this, Honoka," Nico said bluntly.

"And I couldn't care less. I just don't want to love her anymore."

Their eyes reached a mutual agreement as they shared a kiss. It was filled with pain, anger, and sadness. There was a sense of understanding as well.

That eventually turned into lust as the two girls deepened their kiss.

"Honoka…" Nico struggled to say as she was being attacked with kisses. She was surprised to see how good Honoka was at it, and it was definitely turning her on. "Let's…take it…to my room…"

The usual energy that Honoka had was not there. She stopped her aggressive kisses and slowly nodded at Nico's request.

The older girl took Honoka's hand and led her to the bedroom. Once they got into the room, Nico sat Honoka down on the bed.

She slowly started to strip Honoka down. She was waiting for any type of protest from the orange-haired girl, but she said nothing throughout it. All she got were small moans from the kisses Nico planted across her skin.

Nico stripped down until she was nude, which made Honoka blush. Nico wrapped her arms around Honoka and took a hold of her bra strap. She whispered, "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes," Honoka simply replied.

Nico took off the bra and tossed it aside. She placed a hand on Honoka's breast, earning a sharp breath. She started to kiss Honoka's jawline again as she was fondling her breast.

She gently pushed Honoka onto the bed. She started to plant kisses down her skin until she got to Honoka's panties. She pulled down her panties, which were damp. "Honoka, you're already wet?"

Instead of getting a verbal response, Nico looked up to see a cute, blushing Honoka look away from her. "Nico-chan…"

"Right, sorry." Nico started to rub Honoka's core with her two fingers. Her free hand was fondling Honoka's breast and pinching her nipple. Nico's mouth was occupied with sucking on Honoka's other breast. She was happy to hear the moans coming from the younger girl. She stopped sucking Honoka's nipple and went back to kissing Honoka's neck. She was peppering it with kisses. "Are you feeling alright, Honoka?" Nico seductively asked. That seductive tone went away when she saw Honoka's face.

There was a light blush tinting her cheeks and she looked like she was really enjoying it. However, she had tears coming out of her eyes and her lips had a sad and pleasured look to them.

"Hey," Nico said. She stopped doing anything remotely sexual and sat Honoka up on the bed. "What's wrong, Honoka?"

"I…I can't get her…out of my mind!" Honoka brought her hands to her head and tried to pound the thoughts of Maki out of her.

Her hands were stopped by Nico's. As Honoka looked to her senior, she saw a warm smile on Nico's face. "It'll take a while for you to forget her. You don't have to do it now, though. Do you wish that I was Maki right now?"

"…O-Of course not. I'm happy-"

" **Don't** give me that bullshit, Honoka." Nico's comforting smile went into a chilling look. "You want me to be Maki."

Honoka sadly nodded. "I love her too much…I'm sorry, Nico-chan…"

Nico stood up and rested her forehead against Honoka's. "You should just say that then. I know you're going to love her for a while. I saw how you two were. It's hard to get over your first love; I love her too, Honoka."

"What can I do then? I wanted to do this because I don't want to love her anymore! I'm just making it hard for us…"

"Stay put," Nico said.

Honoka looked at Nico confusedly. The black-haired girl was going through her drawers. "Nico-chan?"

"Here it is," Nico said as she pulled out a black blindfold.

"What's that for, Nico-chan?" Honoka asked.

Before she answered, Nico wrapped it around Honoka's eyes.

"I can't see!"

"Shh…" Nico put a finger to Honoka's lips. "I'll take care of you, Honoka. Just pretend."

"Pretend?"

"You can't see me. Just pretend that I'm Maki," Nico said.

"B-But, I know you're Nico-chan."

Nico let down her hair and started to kiss Honoka's neck again. "I love you, Honoka-chan," Nico said with her best Maki impression.

"M-Maki-chan…" Honoka said in a lustful tone. It seemed to work well enough since Honoka did say Maki.

"I'll make you feel good, Honoka-chan," Nico said while still imitating Maki's voice. She brought her fingers to Honoka's pussy as she kept kissing Honoka. She started to insert her fingers into Honoka.

"Ahh!" Honoka almost screamed. "It hurts!"

"Okay, okay!" Nico panicked and quickly took her fingers out. "I'm sorry, Honoka…chan."

"K-Kiss me…Maki-chan."

Nico did as she was told and lustfully kissed the orange-haired girl. They soon released their kiss.

"Take me, Maki-chan."

Nico was confused. "Why? What if I hurt you, Honoka-chan?"

"I want my first time to be with you, Maki-chan. It'll feel better after." Honoka was appreciative of Nico's attempts to be Maki. So, she felt okay with Nico taking her virginity. After all of the care Nico was giving her, it felt okay.

"You'll be okay with it?"

"Of course, Maki-chan."

Hesitantly, Nico started to rub Honoka's lower lips. "I'm going to do it, Honoka-chan."

"Okay."

Nico started to insert her fingers, and she could hear the pain in Honoka's voice. There was some blood coming out, which threw Nico off. She knew that Honoka was a virgin, but to see the actual blood did psych her out. "Are you okay, Honoka-chan?"

"Mhm…" Honoka groaned out. However, the orange-haired girl started to feel the pleasure that came with it. "I-It's feeling b-better."

"Good," Nico said. "I'm just going to stop for a bit, okay?"

"Y-Yes…" Honoka said. She felt the fingers leave her and she moaned from the sudden feeling of pleasure. She laid on the bed as Nico was washing her hands, letting herself think about what was happening. _Nico-chan is so kind for doing this. Even though I thought having sex for the first time should be with someone I love…it feels okay with her. Even pretending to be Maki-chan…_

"Okay, we're going to keep going. Is that alright?" Nico asked, to which she got a nod in response. She heard Honoka's moans as she kissed Honoka's jawline, so she knew that the younger girl was feeling good. Instead of taking it slow, she thrusted her fingers quickly into Honoka's entrance. Thankfully, all of the messy first-time stuff was over, and Nico could focus on letting Honoka feel good.

"AHH!" Honoka screamed in ecstasy. She felt the wave of pleasure wash over her with every thrust, and she was feeling ecstatic. "M-Maki-ch-chan! S-Something's…COMING!"

Nico leaned and whispered into Honoka's ear, "Cum for me, Honoka-chan."

"AHHH!" The sultry tone of Nico's voice made Honoka cum. She felt her juices squirting onto Nico's fingers. Her energy was spent, and she had short breaths.

Nico took the towel she brought from her closet and wiped her hand that was covered in Honoka's juices.

She took the blindfold off of Honoka and rested themselves onto the bed. It wasn't big, but it was able to fit the two of them comfortably.

"How was it?" Nico asked.

Honoka had a pained smile. "A bit painful, but it was good."

Nico pointed at the red spot on the bed. "That's where you had your first time."

"I really bled?"

Nico patted Honoka's head. "It's alright. I'll just need to change my sheets later."

Honoka moved closer to Nico and snuggled into her chest. "Thanks for this, Nico-chan. It helped."

"It's okay. I was just surprised you wanted to do this."

"It…it was nice. Is it okay…if we did this from time to time? If I could just call and we could meet and do this?"

Nico was surprised at the request, but she had a suspicion as to why Honoka was asking. "You still love her, don't you?"

Honoka nodded as she began crying. Her tears were falling onto Nico's bare skin and all the senior could do was bring Honoka's head closer.

Nico kissed Honoka's forehead and hugged her tightly. "It'll be okay, Honoka. We'll get through this."

Once Honoka cried herself to sleep, Nico got out of the bed and called Honoka's mother again.

"Hello? Mrs. Kousaka?"

"Nico? Is Honoka still with you?"

"Yes…she'll probably be staying the night with me."

"Is she okay?"

"Well…she's better."

"Do you know what happened?"

"…I feel like you're going to hate me."

"I won't know if you don't say anything."

Nico sighed. "Maki broke up with her. And…it wasn't pretty."

"Oh no…I know how much she loved her."

"She's a mess. She looked broken when I saw her."

"God…But, that doesn't explain why I would hate you."

"She was hurting, Mrs. Kousaka. She kissed me and before we knew it…"

"You had sex with her?"

Nico cringed when she heard the shock in Mrs. Kousaka's voice. "I know. I'm so sorry! But…I couldn't stop her. She was hurting! She said it was the only way to make her forget about Maki."

"I can't say that I'm happy…but, she's almost graduating. She'll be free to make her own decisions and that is one of them." Honoka's mother sighed. "She probably won't want to talk about this with us. She wants to show that she's still happy and pure."

"So, you're okay with it?"

"Well, I can't stop you now, can I? Just…be careful with her. From what I've heard from you, she's not feeling so great. I just want you to take care of her."

"I will, Mrs. Kousaka."

"Thank you, Nico. For everything."

"It's alright. And again, I'm sorry about corrupting your daughter."

Nico heard another sigh. "Well, it's all in the past. Just do your best and take care."

She hung up the phone and got back into the bed. She was surprised that she didn't wake Honoka up. _I guess she got that tired after sex._ Nico thought.

She stroked Honoka's hair and gave her a light kiss on the forehead.

"Sleep well, Honoka. We'll do our best to get over her."


	3. Chapter 3

"Gosh, I thought Honoka-chan was going to wait for us," Umi said as she and Kotori were walking to the music room. "I know she and Maki-chan are dating, but she has been taking too long there."

"Umi-chan!" Kotori said. "Are you going to scold Honoka-chan again?"

"W-Well, how else is she going to learn?" Umi said. "Are you going to side with Honoka-chan again? I thought I had you on my side for once."

"Don't be a dummy, Umi-chan. She and Maki-chan are dating, so they would want to spend time together. Who knows?" Kotori leaned over to whisper in Umi's ear, "Maybe they're kissing…"

Umi desperately grabbed Kotori's shoulder, almost collapsing to her knees. "D-D-Don't joke about that, Kotori-chan! W-We're at school! That's s-so inappropriate! Shameless!"

Kotori giggled at Umi's flustered expression. _She's always so easily embarrassed._ When Kotori opened the music room door, she and Umi saw Maki kneeling on the ground and was clutching her stomach.

"Maki-chan?!" The two girls quickly ran over to their hurt junior to check on her. "Are you okay?"

Maki shook her head. "No…I'm not…"

"Are you hurt?" Kotori, with her health committee instincts kicking in, asked worriedly. "I'll get some stuff to treat y-"

Maki stopped the ash-brunette when she placed a hand on Kotori's shoulder. "It's okay, Kotori-chan. I'm…I'm fine…"

"Where's Honoka-chan? We were waiting for her after she was done talking with you," Umi asked.

Hearing Honoka's name made Maki cringe. _I've hurt her so much…and I really thought she would listen._ "We broke up," Maki stated bluntly.

"What?" Kotori said in shock. "You broke up? What happened?"

So, Maki explained the whole story from when she and Honoka were in the music room. There were a lot of tears coming from all three girls, especially from Maki. There were so many painful things she had to remember. The way Honoka sounded broken, to the pained expression on her face. Maki loved Honoka so much, but she couldn't convey that to her ex.

Umi sighed. "It seems like such a Honoka thing to do…but, I can see where she's coming from." Kotori nodded in agreement.

"But, you can see where I'm coming from as well, right?" Maki asked the two girls. "I'll make sure I can see her again! And we'll be together again!"

Umi sighed again. "Yes, I can see that, Maki-chan. I just don't know what you can do about it. Honoka would care a lot about building a relationship. She would want it to last for a long time."

"I know that!" Maki worriedly said. "I-I was thinking that…you two could talk to her…"

"Us?" Kotori questioned.

"You're her best friends. I know I was her girlfriend, but I think she would listen to you two. Especially…because of today..." Maki started to break down and cry, burying her face into her hands. Both Kotori and Umi went over and hugged Maki, trying to calm her down. "I DON'T WANT TO LOSE HER!" Maki screamed from her palms.

"We know," Umi said as she rubbed circles on Maki's back. "We'll talk to her. We'll try our best to show her that everything that you're doing is all for her."

* * *

Honoka stirred from her bed. As she opened her eyes, she saw that she wasn't close to her home. _Oh yeah, I stayed over at Nico-chan's house. And…we had sex…_

Honoka lifted the covers to see the spot where her first time was taken. _I don't feel great…but, I definitely feel a bit better._

 _Wait…I didn't call my parents!_ Honoka jolted out of bed, but felt the morning chill. She saw a pair of panties and a shirt on Nico's work desk. She saw that the panties were a bit too small for her, so she just put the shirt on and ran out of Nico's room.

And she ran into Nico again.

"Ouch! Goddamn, Honoka!" Nico complained as she was picking herself back up.

"I forgot to call my mom! She's probably worried sick!" Honoka panicked as she desperately tried to look for her phone.

Nico reached to the kitchen viewing wall and held it in her hand. "You looking for this?" Nico said with a smirk on her face.

Honoka looked to see the smug look on Nico's face and pouted. "I am, thank you very much."

"You don't have to worry about calling your family. I did it yesterday. You're lucky that it's the weekend or you would have been late as hell," Nico said as she pointed to the clock.

"1:30? How long was I out for?"

Nico put a finger to her chin and was figuring out the math. "About…10 hours? Yeah, that sounds right."

"Oh." Honoka's bubbling thoughts were interrupted by the delicious smell of eggs and bacon. Her stomach growled, which made Nico giggle.

"You're smelling that, huh. Come on, let's eat."

Nico turned around, and Honoka couldn't help but notice what she was wearing. Or, the lack there of. She only had panties on, and Honoka couldn't help but notice how good looking Nico was.

"Stop checking me out and come eat," Nico teased as she saw Honoka's eyes following her butt.

"R-Right." Honoka shook herself back and walked to the table. When she took a seat, her nose was assaulted by the delicious smells of breakfast.

" _Itadakimasu!_ " The two said before digging in.

"Ahh…Nico-chan, you're such a good cook." Honoka said after savouring the taste of the bacon and eggs.

"Of course! You think the great idol Nico would eat store bought food? I need to keep myself looking good." Nico smirked. "And to you, I already look good enough."

Honoka groaned. "Jeez, Nico-chan! Are you going to keep making fun of me?"

Nico laughed. "I'm done, at least for now."

The continued to eat in a peaceful silence, until Nico decided to interrupt it.

"I told your mom about what happened."

The orange-haired girl dropped her cutlery and stared at the black-haired senior. "What?"

"She was going to learn eventually. You couldn't keep it bottled for much longer."

Honoka didn't react to that, since she knew Nico was right. "Fine. What did you tell her?"

"Everything," Nico bluntly said.

"About my break up with Maki-chan?"

"You were in no state to say anything about it."

"Even that we had…sex?"

Nico pointed her chopsticks at the girl. "She gave me an out for that. You're gonna graduate high school. You have all the control in the world, at least for your decisions."

Honoka crossed her arms and pouted. "I should be madder at you right now. I'm just happy that you cooked breakfast. I'm still really mad!"

Nico put down her things and went over to Honoka. She wrapped her arms around the orange-haired girl and kissed the top of her head. "She's not worrying about you for having sex, Honoka. Your mom was very worried when I told her you and Maki broke up. It was an ugly break-up, and you were devastated. You did what felt right. Are you feeling better? At all?"

Honoka relaxed into Nico's comforting embrace. "A bit…I still really love her, Nico-chan."

"And that's fine. We'll get through it. I'll love you, and you just have to love me. Do you think you can do that?"

Hearing the warm words from Nico made Honoka feel at peace. "I think I can."

"Honoka, will you be my girlfriend?"

Honoka leaned her head against Nico's arm. "I will."

They shared a tender kiss before cleaning up the kitchen table.

The rest of the day was the two girls hanging out at Nico's. To Honoka's surprise, her girlfriend's intelligence has vastly improved. So, she was able to get a lot of help from Nico.

It was relatively peaceful until Honoka got a text.

"Who is it?" Nico asked.

"Umi-chan. She wants to talk with me and Kotori-chan."

"Huh," Nico didn't seem too interested. The trio of girls were best friends after all, so it would make sense. "Well, you shouldn't keep them waiting."

"What should I wear though? I'm…not wearing anything underneath this shirt."

"You can just use the ones from yesterday. And I have some sweatpants and loose shirts. Just wear that."

"Okay!"

Honoka quickly got changed into the comfortable pieces of clothing and started to head out. "I'm going now, Nico-chan!"

"You know the way back, right?"

"Yeah, they want to go talk at the café nearby. Shouldn't be too hard to find my way back."

"Alright. I'll miss you," Nico said as she kissed Honoka's cheek.

She held her cheek, surprised that Nico was being so affectionate at the start of their relationship. However, she smiled. "I will too, Nico-chan." Honoka leaned in and gave a quick peck to Nico's lips, causing the older girl to blush.

…

"Umi-chan! Kotori-chan!" Honoka said as she saw her friends outside of the café. She ran up to them and hugged her two best friends.

"Hi, Honoka-chan!" Kotori greeted back.

"Hello, Honoka-chan." Umi also greeted back.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" The energetic girl eagerly asked.

Umi lightly laughed, since she knew the heaviness of the situation. "Calm down, Honoka-chan. We will talk when we're inside."

The three girls took a seat. Kotori and Umi got some food since they were hungry. They were surprised that Honoka just got a small piece of strawberry shortcake.

"You usually eat a good amount of food when we come here, Honoka-chan," Umi stated.

"And Umi-chan gets too mean about it," Kotori said, getting a laugh from Honoka and a glare from Umi.

"Well, I had a good breakfast. I'm still feeling a bit full, but there's always room for dessert."

The food came quickly and the three ate and had some small talk. Once everyone was finished, they got into the important conversation.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Honoka asked.

The two girls looked at each other, wondering who would bring it up first.

It would probably be better for Kotori to start, so she did.

"It's about Maki-chan."

"W-What about her?" Honoka started to freeze. _What do they know?_

"We know that you two broke up."

"What about it?" Honoka was being very harsh towards her two friends.

"Did you get to hear what her reasoning was?" Umi said. "It will make you happy."

"Really? How is being broken up because of money happy, huh?" Honoka angrily glared at her two best friends.

"She didn't mean it like that, Honoka-chan." Kotori timidly said. She's only been on the receiving end of an angry Honoka once, and she didn't have to face it directly. Seeing how mad Honoka was really scared her.

"She was going to go to university and become a doctor. Once that was finished, she wouldn't go with her parents. She would have been with you and your family." Umi explained, hoping that the message would be sent to Honoka.

"That sounds great," Honoka replied sarcastically. "Instead of being with me and leaving me to go to university, she's going to take advantage of her parents? She couldn't even come out to them, and look where we are now."

It was the harsh truth. Instead of trying to make Maki's parents accept the fact that she is a lesbian, she would rather benefit from having money from her parents. It sounded scummy, and there was no way around it.

"R-Right…" Umi finally said. "It…it doesn't sound good to you? She would be with you in the future."

"And I want to be with her **now**." Honoka stared down her two friends. "I want to be loved now, and Maki-chan isn't going to give that to me. I already had my future planned out with her. She could have been a doctor. She could have been whatever she wanted to be! But no, she had to leave me because the money for school is more important. It may sound shallow…but…having a relationship is much more important to me than having a school life. School can be done anytime; when you find the one, you want to spend your entire life with them. You can understand that, right?"

The only thing that Kotori and Umi could do was look down. They couldn't look at Honoka in the eye; all of her honesty was real, and it made them think twice about what happened. They still support Maki and Honoka, but this was a real divide within the group of friends.

"If you would excuse me," Honoka said as she wiped away her tears, "I would like to be with my girlfriend."

"What?" Kotori said. "You have a girlfriend? Right after you and Maki-chan broke up?"

"She's helping me cope with that. I still love Maki-chan, but I think I'll be able to love her."

"Who is it?" Umi asked.

"I can't say now. You'll learn eventually." Honoka bowed to her two friends before leaving.

"What do we do, Umi-chan?" Kotori asked.

"I…I don't know…All I know is that we have to tell Maki-chan."


	4. Chapter 4

"So, how did it go?" Maki asked Kotori and Umi. She texted them to meet up once they talked to Honoka, and they met up soon after.

Umi shook her head. "She wasn't convinced."

"How?! She can't see that I'm doing this for her?" Maki said.

"She…made very valid points, Maki-chan," Kotori told the red-head.

"What does that mean?"

"She said that you're taking advantage of your parents." Umi stated.

Maki wanted to defend herself, but hearing it said aloud…it does look that way.

"She also said that university isn't something that you need to do now. A relationship requires time, and you can take some time before going to post-secondary. School isn't as important as building a relationship, basically," Umi said.

Hearing those words made Maki's heart sting. _Honoka is right…I could have stayed with her. I could have saved enough money to go to university while still being with her._

"I messed up," Maki said. "Maybe she is right…"

"To be honest, we were kind of swayed as well," Kotori said. "I know that Honoka is very good at talking and making people feel better about themselves. This…"

"I know. You shouldn't even be talking to me with how I treated her," Maki said.

"Hey, we're still your friend, Maki-chan," Umi said as she held Maki's shoulder and gave it a small squeeze.

"Do you think I can make up with her?"

"I think so. She can't hold a grudge for that long…although, this was pretty rough," Kotori replied.

Maki sighed. "You're probably right…She wouldn't even think about being my girlfriend again, huh?"

Umi hesitated, as did Kotori. However, Maki needed to know.

"She definitely wouldn't because she has a new one."

Maki turned her head. "WHAT?"

"She's trying to forget about loving you, and she found someone that could help her with it."

"No…No!" Maki started to cry, and Umi and Kotori were trying to comfort her. "Who is it? Do you know?" Maki asked in desperation.

"She didn't tell us," Kotori said.

"Goddamn it!" Maki cried out. _She's trying to forget me, and I can't help but think that she has so many reasons to do so._

* * *

Nico and Honoka's relationship has progressed very well. They had sex a lot of the time, and Honoka's mother even allowed her daughter to stay with Nico. When they talked about Maki, it seemed like Honoka was getting over incredibly well.

"Hey, babe," Honoka said. "Are you able to go to my graduation?"

"When is that…in a month?" Nico checked her calendar and saw that she had a relatively light schedule. "Yeah, I should be okay."

"Awesome!" Honoka excitedly said as she hooked her arms around her girlfriend. The orange-haired girl started to blush. "I haven't told Umi-chan or Kotori-chan about us. All they know is that I have a girlfriend."

"So, you want to show me off then?" Nico said. Honoka nodded, to which Nico smirked. "Well, of course you would! Who wouldn't want to show off the aspiring idol Nico?!"

Honoka giggled. "Of course I do. How has that been, anyways?"

Nico's eyes began to shimmer once she heard that question. "It's been great! There's this one company that's very persistent on picking me up. I told them that I want to finish university before becoming an idol, which they agreed to. And thankfully, I'm doing very well in university as well."

"Wow, you're focusing on being an idol and school work?"

Nico lightly chopped Honoka's head. "You did as well, remember?"

Honoka scratched her cheek with her finger. "Oh yeah…What are you doing in university anyways?"

"I'm studying to be a nutritionist. Cooking is fun, and I like to help people with their health. It only seemed natural."

Honoka grabbed Nico's wrist and looked at her with puppy dog eyes. "You'll be my nutritionist, right Nico-chan?"

The senior blushed and looked away. "Yeah, o-of course I will."

"Yay!"

* * *

"Kousaka Honoka…Minami Kotori…Sonoda Umi…"

The three girls finished their graduation ceremony and were now together with their parents.

"Nico-chan!" Honoka excitedly called out, causing her two friends to turn their heads. They were happy to see that at least one of their seniors from Muse came to watch their graduation. They even saw Eli and Nozomi waving at them as they were following Nico.

What the four of them didn't expect was to see Honoka leap into Nico's embrace and share a long kiss. Umi wanted to be embarrassed, but all she could think was what Kotori was thinking as well.

 _Honoka is dating Nico?_

"Well, that's unexpected. You didn't tell us you got together, Nico-chi," Nozomi said.

Nico rubbed the back of her head. "I guess I just forgot. It's only been about a month and a half since we started. Besides, we haven't been able to talk that much because of exams."

"Right, right," Eli said. "I guess it didn't work out with Maki for either of you."

Eli unintentionally made the atmosphere very awkward. She or Nozomi didn't know about the details, and Rin and Hanayo probably didn't either. They knew that Maki and Honoka were dating, but they were left in the dark about this new relationship. The only people that knew were Nico, Maki, and the newly graduated girls and they all knew about what the reason was for this new couple.

"I…Yeah, I guess it didn't," Honoka said with a small and nervous chuckle.

"Honoka, nya!" The three second-years came to congratulate the three on their graduation, with Rin leading the charge. "Congratulations on graduating, nya!"

"Thanks, Rin-chan," Honoka said as she petted her cat-like friend. Hanayo said her congratulations as well before she turned to Umi and Kotori. This left Maki to come over and go to Honoka.

The red-head hated that Honoka was hiding behind Nico, looking a bit terrified just from being so close. "C-Congratulations, Honoka-chan. I…I hope you have a…a good future," Maki said while trying not to cry.

"T-Thanks…"

Eli and Nozomi saw the tense feeling between the two girls. They wanted to ask someone about it, but they didn't want to cause a scene at such a happy event.

"Why don't we go and have a graduation lunch?" Eli suggested. "Just the nine of us. How does that sound?"

Honoka turned to the blonde and it seemed like the awkwardness went away. "That sounds fun!"

Nozomi chuckled. "It'll be our treat."

…

The nine of them went to a small diner that Eli and Nozomi recommended. The girls didn't disagree with that.

As they were sitting, Eli asked, "How did you and Nico get together?"

Maki finally found out who Honoka's new girlfriend was. She hoped that it was someone from A-RISE. Anyone that wasn't someone here. But, it had to be Nico. She subtly glared at her two friends, although she couldn't think that she would be that close with them anymore.

"Well…" Honoka was struggling to make up a way that Nico got together. She didn't want to bring up the ugliness of her relationship with Maki, mostly because the red-head was there.

"I saw Honoka when I was visiting the school. We just really hit it off, I guess," Nico said. It was a half-lie; she did meet Honoka at school, but the entire reason they got together was an entirely different reason.

"That's nice." Eli had a sneaking suspicion that there was much more to the story. She could see the way Maki as glaring at the new couple. Before she could make the situation worse, the waitress came and got everyone's orders.

They all enjoyed the food. Well, everyone except for Maki. She was only poking at her food and not taking many bites. So, she just got it to go once everyone finished eating. She was feeling too bitter about the new couple in their group of friends.

The nine girls parted ways, which left Honoka and Nico walking back to Nico's home.

"Well, that was some ceremony, huh?" Nico said, trying to lighten the mood.

"I feel so bad, Nico-chan. I still felt those feelings for Maki-chan. And they were strong."

Nico grabbed Honoka's hand and squeezed it. "It's okay, Honoka. It's only been a month. I'm not surprised that you still like her. But you're getting over her a bit every day that we've been together. We'll be alright."

Honoka hugged Nico's arm. "Yeah…We will be. I still love you a lot, Nico-chan."

The black-haired girl giggled. "And I love you." _I just hope that love for Maki goes away._ "We need to tell everyone about what happened, right?"

Honoka sighed. "I guess so. Kotori-chan and Umi-chan already know. And it's not okay to leave everyone else out."

"They know?"

"Yeah…they talked to Maki-chan about it."

"Oh. Well, it'll be alright."

* * *

"Eli? Nozomi? What's up?" Nico asked her two friends. They met up at the local café after she got a text from Nozomi asking her to meet them.

"Well, it's about you and Honoka," Eli began to speak.

"What of it?"

"It also has to do with Maki-chan," Nozomi added.

 _Oh shit._ Nico looked down at the table. "W-What about us?"

"We saw that Maki-chan looked pretty pissed at you two. So…" Nozomi rested her chin on her hands. "What happened?"

"I-It's…hard to explain…" Nico tried to avoid the question. She remembered that she and Honoka agreed to tell everyone about it, but she still felt a bit awkward talking about it.

"You aren't getting out of this, Nico." Eli stared down the shorter girl with an intimidating glare.

"Fine!" Nico threw her arms up and crossed them. "Honoka went through an ugly break-up with Maki."

"How bad was it?" Nozomi asked.

Nico contemplated about telling them the details. She remembered Honoka saying that Umi and Kotori already know everything. _Ah, fuck it. If they know, they'll learn eventually._

"Well, Maki wanted to be with Honoka, but her parents disapproved her dating habits. They told her that she wouldn't get funding for university if she didn't break up with Honoka. So, she did while Maki kept saying that she loves her." Nico said that part with some venom in her tone.

"Gosh…that must really suck," Eli said.

"Honoka was a mess. She loves Maki, and to be broken up like that…it fucking sucks. I ran into her and she told me everything. She wanted to forget her love for Maki. So…we had sex."

"What the hell? You had sex with her?" Eli said in shock. "What's that going to help with?"

"She's trying to forget. She loves her, and she can't stand that she does. Maki really fucked her up, and…I kinda hate her for it."

Nozomi looked at Nico quizzically. "So, you like Honoka-chan now? What happened with you like Maki-chan?"

Nico sighed. "I did like her. But, Honoka said that it would only hurt me if I kept loving her. I just told you, Maki really messed Honoka up. It's what's best for both of us."

"Are you sure about that, Nico-chi?" Nozomi asked. "You keep saying that Honoka-chan still likes Maki-chan."

"She's getting over her everyday that we're together! We promised that we'll love each other, and it's been going great." Nico said.

"You could be hurt, Nico-chan," Nozomi said, "I don't want you to be hurt. Neither of us do." She said as Eli nodded.

"I won't get hurt! I know it!" Nico said. She stormed out of the café, not wanting to hear the words that always invaded her mind anymore.

"Damn it…" Eli sighed. "We can't stop her, can we?"

Nozomi sighed as well. "She kept a club open for three years while she was alone. I don't think we can change her mind."


	5. Chapter 5

6 years have passed. Honoka and Nico both finished their degrees; Nico was a nutritionist and Honoka had the credentials for a kindergarten teacher. The company that was eying Nico finally got her to join, which gave Nico the dream of being an idol. She was able to be contractually free to ask for what she wanted. She didn't ask for much; money, touring, and music was all to her liking. One thing that was important to her was to show that she was in a relationship.

When she was in Shibuya for one of her tours, she had Honoka come along. There, she proposed to her on stage. Every one of her fans cheered loudly for the soon to be newlyweds, and Honoka was so happy to be with Nico, as was the idol.

They settled in Shibuya and found a house to live in. Honoka was a kindergarten teacher, however she became a housewife when they bought their house. She picked up cooking techniques from her fiancée, and was able to make very delicious dishes that made them both happy.

Honoka was the one to plan the wedding, and she made sure to invite all of her important friends and family. Nico's mother and siblings, Honoka's family, and of course the girls from Muse were the top priority.

She had her ups and downs with some specific people, as did Nico. The black-haired idol was able to apologize to Eli and Nozomi about that day when she freaked out on them. Honoka was able to get on good footing with Maki again. She was happy to hear that Maki worked hard and was able to pay for her own tuition to get a doctorate.

The wedding was extravagant since Nico's idol work paid very well. Honoka had her two best friends and Yukiho be her bridesmaids, and Nico had Nozomi, Eli, and Cocoro as hers. It was also streamed to Nico's adoring fans as they all expressed that they wanted to see their favourite idol's marriage.

It was a life that could be considered a fairy tale. Honoka was able to be healed by Nico and they grew to love each other. It was perfect.

But, perfection can't always last.

* * *

Honoka was outside of the house. Specifically, on the lawn treating the garden. Both Kotori and Nozomi showed her the wonders of gardening, so she decided to give it a shot.

As she was finishing up her daisies, she saw a car pull up to the front. _I know that car from anywhere!_ She dusted off her gardening apron and went to greet the visitor.

"Hello, Honoka," Maki said as she got out of her car and bowed.

"Maki-chan!" Honoka gave the woman a hug, which she graciously accepted. "What brings you here? Don't you have to work at the hospital?"

"Not today, I have a day off. You're still my favourite person to talk to, so I decided to come and see you," Maki confessed.

"Huh. I never heard that before. Well, come on in! I was just about to cook dinner. It'll be nice with two people instead of me being alone."

Honoka grabbed Maki by the wrist and walked with her inside the house.

"Take a seat, please!" Honoka motioned to the kitchen table as she went to start cooking.

The red-head giggled. "I've been here before, Honoka. I know where to go."

"Hey, I'm just being a good host. Don't let me take that away." The two laughed before Honoka began cooking.

As Maki waited for the food, she looked around the floor. It hasn't changed much; the piano was there for when she was teaching the two women. The plain, blue couch was still the same, with the same coffee table and television. She remembered when the eight of them went to Honoka's house to watch Nico's lives. She saw some new scenery outside in the backyard; in addition to the garden in the front lawn, Honoka and Nico were growing some fruits and vegetables.

An intoxicating scent lingered in her nostrils as Honoka was finishing up her cooking. Looking towards the kitchen, she saw Honoka holding a plate of sautéed veggies and a meat dish.

"This is one of Nico's favourite dishes that I make. To be honest, it's may favourite thing that I make."

Maki looked over to see the famed Kousaka Salisbury steak. "Is that why you two always bring this when we have parties? Isn't it a bit of a hassle?"

Honoka laughed. "It's never a hassle to make sure everyone is satisfied. If I think it's good, I know that everyone will love it."

"A bit arrogant, don't you think?" Maki said as she smirked.

"You want to eat or not?" Honoka teased, to which Maki apologized.

The two dug into the food, and as always it was delicious. Honoka was right; if she said something is good, it's good.

Maki leaned back in the chair, which earned a giggle from Honoka. "Jeez, you are such a good cook."

"It's not being arrogant if I can back it up. Told ya!" Honoka said as she started to clear the table.

"Oh, let me help," Maki said, standing up and taking her plate to the sink.

"Thanks!" Honoka said happily.

Once everything was cleared from the table, Honoka prepared some iced tea and brought it to the living room. "Come, sit on the couch!"

Maki obliged, taking a seat next to the girl. She sipped the cold drink and was thoroughly satisfied. "Even your drinks are delicious!"

Honoka giggled. "Thanks. So, what's been happening with you?"

"Eh, not much. Same old, really. The hospital has been pretty busy, but there are a lot of other doctors that I can trust," Maki told her friend as Honoka nodded. "How about you? Nico's not coming home soon?"

Honoka looked at her phone to check when Nico was finished. "She'll be back…in about three days. I've had some stuff to do when she's been gone."

"Really? Like gardening?"

"Well, you saw me out there. Kotori-chan and Nozomi-chan showed me the fun in it."

"I see. Sounds fun," Maki replied.

"It is! It might just be to wait for Nico-chan, but it actually is fun!"

"Ahh, it must be fun to have love," Maki said sarcastically.

"You still haven't found anyone yet?" Honoka asked. She was surprised to hear that since Maki was a definite stunner of a girl.

"No…no one has really caught my eye. Guys, girls; no one's caught my eye, really," Maki confessed.

"That must suck," Honoka commented.

"It does. It's just that...there's always someone that I did like." Maki scooted over closer to Honoka.

"I-Is that so?" Honoka was feeling a bit nervous with how close Maki was getting. Mostly because she didn't want to betray her wife. And also, she felt those feelings from high school coming back to her.

"When I said I love you, Honoka. I meant it. I never stopped loving you." Maki traced her hand until it was resting under Honoka's chin.

 _No, Honoka! Don't fall for her! You have Nico! You got over Maki before! Be strong!_

It was all Honoka could think until her lips touched Maki's. And with it, all of those thoughts melted away. She definitely felt guilty. But…

It felt so right.

They soon deepened their kiss with Honoka's fingers combing through Maki's red locks. The doctor got a bit more aggressive and started to grope Honoka's chest, earning a sharp breath from the housewife.

"M-Maki-chan…" Honoka moaned out, "Not here…"

Honoka took Maki's hand and led them upstairs to the master bedroom. There were many pictures of Honoka and Nico together, but Honoka easily turned them over so she couldn't think about her.

Clothes started to leave their bodies and were strewn over the room. Maki looked over the beautiful body lying on the bed. Both of them were naked, and Maki could only stare in awe with how beautiful Honoka still was. "I've wanted you for so long, Honoka."

"Yeah…" Just from the kissing, Honoka could feel how wet she was. On the outside, all signs showed that Honoka was excited.

Internally, she couldn't be more conflicted.

On the negative end, she couldn't feel more disgusted with herself. She was a married woman, for god's sake! Nico has been nothing but good to her, and now she was betraying that trust. 8 years of being friends, and 6 of those years were them being lovers. All of that was being thrown away for this one-night stand.

She may have hated herself for that, but the positive side was just as strong. Deep in her heart, her corrupted heart, she knew that she never stopped loving Maki. Those feelings that she thought were buried with Nico's unending love exploded once Maki kissed her.

Those feelings intensified once she felt Maki's tongue on her nipple. She sucked in a breath, but let it out once she felt Maki pinch her other nipple and moaned. She felt Maki's leg hitting her crotch, and she shuddered from the sensation.

"I want to make you feel good, Honoka," Maki whispered in her ear.

"Then, do so," Honoka succumbed and played along with Maki.

Maki started to rub Honoka's clit, which made the older woman whimper. Maki was using her lips to trace Honoka's neckline and used her free hand to fondle Honoka's breast.

"S-Stop…teasing me…Maki-chan…" Honoka moved Maki's head so their foreheads were touching. "Fuck me…please!"

The red-head planted a kiss on Honoka's lips. "Alright then."

"Ahh!" Honoka felt a wave of pleasure wash over her when she felt Maki's fingers slip into her pussy. She dug her nails into Maki's smooth, pale skin. Maki had so much control over her, and she couldn't say that she hated it. Every thrust made Honoka scream in pleasure and made her mind melt. "Oh, FUCK! MAKI-CHAN!"

"Cum for me, Honoka."

"AHH!" Honoka's juices coated Maki's fingers as she reached her climax. After every thrust, she had a small orgasm as she rode her high.

Maki got off of Honoka and kissed her cheek. She licked her fingers that had Honoka's taste, which she savoured.

The two of them brought the covers over them as Maki snuggled up to Honoka.

"I felt awful with the way we broke up," Maki said. "It's all my fault, and I just hope I'm forgiven."

Honoka was short of breath from the intense sex session she just had. "We wouldn't be friends…if…I didn't…forgive you…"

"I'm glad," Maki said as she started to fall asleep against Honoka's chest.

What they didn't see or hear was a voyeur. One who couldn't believe what she saw. One that felt disgusted with her so called "friends."

She gently closed the door and ran downstairs. Right out the door. She didn't know where to go, but she knew that she could never come back there.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: I had the story finished. Key word is 'had.' When I was reading over the last few chapters (particularly the two after this one), I found it EXTREMELY lackluster. After re-writing it and even adding some new chapters, I find that this re-write is much better than what I had before. I'm not quite finished with it (I'm predicting 2-3 more chapters after chapter 8), so I won't be updating this story with the frequency I did until I finish. Thanks for understanding (if you do).**

 **Now, onto the chapter!**

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"Where are we going, Yazawa-sama?" The limo driver asked.

"Just take me home," Nico said, to which the limo driver nodded.

 _A little lie couldn't hurt, could it? Besides, it's just a happy surprise!_ Nico thought to herself. Her tour was finished and she was very excited to go back home. She was always happy to see her loving wife after being away for so long. When she told Honoka that she would be home, she told her that she would be back three days from now. Instead, she decided to surprise her wife by coming home three days earlier. She didn't do it too often, but having it as a rare occurrence was always exciting.

They got to the house. Nico thanked the driver before she walked into her house, luggage in hand.

"I'm back!" She excitedly said once she entered the house. When she looked around the first floor, she didn't see her wife in sight. She walked over to the fridge to see Salisbury steak inside, planting a smile on her face. _Yes! Honoka always makes the best steaks._

She was very curious as to why Honoka wasn't watching TV; she was normally doing that at this time.

 _I guess she went to bed early._

As she was walking to the stairs, she was hearing some lewd sounds coming from the bedroom. Nico smirked. _Honoka was never quiet when we had sex, let alone while she was masturbating. I guess I'll give her a hand._

"FUCK! MAKI-CHAN!"

She froze once she got to the top of the stairs. _What?_

She crept to the door of the bedroom. She placed her hand on the handle and carefully opened the door, just enough to peek inside.

And she saw it.

Maki thrusting her finger's into Honoka. Her wife, screaming in pleasure from another woman. A woman who she called a friend.

She saw the two snuggle up after Honoka came. It was becoming blurry with all of the tears filling her vision.

"I felt awful with the way we broke up. It's all my fault, and I just hope I'm forgiven."

"We wouldn't be friends…if…I didn't…forgive you…"

"I'm glad."

 _How could you do this to me? Either of you?_

 _Maki, you still love her. But, I thought you could bury those feelings away. You had to take her like this? You had to hurt me?_

 _Honoka…what the fuck? We worked so hard to stop loving her. We love each other, don't we? Did you lie about it? About what we have? We're married, Honoka! And you betray me like this?_

Nico quietly shut the door and ran downstairs with light steps. She took some containers and filled it with the Salisbury steak. Taking her luggage, she went out of her house and started to walk down the empty streets of the night. Looking to her side, she saw the red car that was Maki's in her driveway.

It made her hurt more. Her heart was breaking just thinking about what she saw. It was the only thing she could think about.

 _I don't know what to do anymore._

Before she knew it, she was in full sprint to find a place to be. She couldn't ever come back to her home. The home she shared with the one she loved.

Because it was a home of betrayal. Disgust. Heartache.

Her legs led her to Eli and Nozomi's house. It wasn't too far from her house, but it was not like they were neighbours. She must have run for a while, and yet she couldn't feel any pain. She felt numb.

She walked up to the door and knocked. No response.

 _Of course. It's so late right now. Why would they crawl out of bed?_

She pulled out her phone and dialed up her friend's house. It led her to voice message.

 _Right._

"We can't come to the phone right now, sorry!"

"If ya can, just leave a message!"

 _BEEP!_

"…Eli? Nozomi? Can you come to the door?" Nico said in her message. She was getting cold and she was dead tired. The whole situation right now wasn't helping either. She started to bang her free hand against the door. "PLEASE! ELI! NOZOMI! I NEED HELP!"

She heard heavy footsteps coming from the stairs and the door was quickly unlocked and opened.

"Nico?" Eli said in a tired breath, a mix of shock and confusion in her tone. Nozomi was right behind her with her hands resting on her thighs as she tried to catch her breath.

"I…I NEED HELP!" Nico crashed into Eli's chest and fell to her knees, bringing the blonde down with her. She was sobbing profusely and was staining Eli's shirt with her tears.

"Nico-chi?" Nozomi went to her friend's side and hugged her. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"EVERYTHING!" She shouted, startling the two women. Before they made a scene at their house, they shut the door and brought their friend to the living room.

Eli sat with Nico, trying to comfort her, while Nozomi went and made tea for the three of them. Once she placed the tea in front of them, she took a seat on Nico's other side, so the idol was in between the two of them.

"What are you doing here? You had three days before your tour was finished, right?" Eli asked.

Nico managed to contain her crying to talk to her friends. "It…It was a surprise. My tour…it finished…today. I was…going to…surprise…Ho…" She couldn't utter her wife's name before she started to cry. Just thinking about her would make her think of what she saw in the bedroom.

"For Honoka? That's nice," Eli said. "What happened?"

"She's a BITCH!" Nico said.

"What?" Nozomi said. "Why are you calling her that? You love her, don't you?"

"Not when she's fucking someone behind my back!" Nico shouted.

"Hey, she wouldn't do that-"

"I **saw** her, Eli! She was getting fucked by Maki!" Nico interrupted her blonde friend.

Nico felt Nozomi's arms wrap around her. "I'm so sorry, Nico-chi."

"You believe me?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Nozomi hugged her even tighter. "I knew this would happen ever since you said that Honoka-chan still loves Maki-chan."

"Nozomi…" Eli said, thinking that her wife may have crossed a line.

Nico turned her head and cried into Nozomi's chest. "I thought that it would happen when we started dating…not after we got married. WE LOVE EACH OTHER!"

"She loves you, Nico-chan…and you love her too. I'm sorry it had to be like this." Nozomi stroked Nico's hair and rubbed circles on her back. "We'll talk in the morning. Let's sleep, alright?"

Nico nodded. She wanted to keep talking, but she felt like she was going to collapse.

"You can share our bed, Nico," Eli said. "We want you to know that we're here for you."

"T-Thanks…"

* * *

Honoka was taking a shower, remembering last night's activities with Maki.

 _Holy fuck. I'm awful. I betrayed the person I love with the one that broke my heart. The worst part; I can't even say I hated having sex with Maki-chan. I really thought I got over her, and yet that lingering love came back._

As she finished up, she covered her body with a towel and came into the bedroom to see a remorseful Maki.

"Honoka," Maki said as she saw the orange-haired girl come back into the room.

"Maki-chan?"

Maki sighed. "I…I fucked up. How could I have just done this to you? To Nico? We're supposed to be friends, and yet I end up sleeping with you. I promised myself that I wouldn't push my feelings onto you."

Honoka took a seat beside her. "I fucked up too. I betrayed Nico-chan's trust over some feelings that should have gone away a long time ago. I shouldn't have let you even kiss me. But I did, and I know that I crossed a line."

"As did I."

The two sat in silence, still trying to figure out their words.

"That was it, right?" Honoka asked.

"What?"

"What we did yesterday, it was a one-time thing. We can't do it again, and I don't want to. I feel disgusted with myself, with how easily I brushed away my love for Nico-chan just to be with you once." She took one of the overturned pictures and stared at it. It was their honeymoon photo, when they went to America. Right before Nico's third tour. "I still love you Maki-chan. There may be some small feelings that I have for you, but it's nothing compared to the love I have for Nico-chan. It was just that time where my love for you overpowered. I hate it. I'll love you as a friend, but nothing more. I can't let this hurt me or Nico-chan again."

"I hate myself too. I promise, Honoka. That was it. We'll never talk about this again. And…I'm sorry," Maki responded.

"Good. We'll still be friends, I can promise you that, Maki-chan." Honoka put out her pinky, to which Maki reciprocated.

"Promise."

* * *

Nico, Eli, and Nozomi were out having a bit of a shopping spree. Nico was trying to get rid of what she saw from her mind, and spending time with her friends seemed like the best option.

"You sure bought a lot of clothes, Nico-chi," Nozomi commented. She and Eli had two bags and they weren't that heavy. On the other hand, Nico had at least five bags and needed help from her two taller friends to hold it.

"I don't know how long I'll be out of my house for. I'll need all the back up I can get," Nico said. She almost faltered when she tried to be cool in front of her friends, but she persevered. "Can we get something to eat? I'm starving!"

"Quit your whining," Eli teased her short friend. "There's a good comfort food diner here in the mall. We'll go there for lunch."

" _Hai!_ " The other two said.

As they were approaching said diner, there was a familiar scent going through Nico's nose.

 _It's not exact…but it smells like Honoka's Salisbury steak…Well, I know not to get that. Ouch! What…what was that?_

Nico felt a sharp pain in her chest. She was losing pace as she was slowing down to deal with it. Her vision was getting blurry. Her heart was stinging, making her cry out in pain.

Eli and Nozomi looked back to see Nico clasping her chest. "Nico?!" They ran over to her. "Nico, what's wrong?"

"I…It hurts…HELP!" Nico said through short breaths.

"Nozomi, call 119!"

* * *

Honoka was humming in her kitchen as she was preparing for Nico's return.

 _I got everything set! Strawberry cake, Salisbury steak, everything she loves! We're all good to go!_

 _ **RING!**_

"Huh?" The phone started to ring, which was surprising. She got the occasional sales call, so she was assuming it was someone like that.

"Hello?"

"Honoka."

"Eli-chan?"

"Please, come to the hospital. Quickly. Nico's hurt. Bad."

She hung up, turned off everything and rushed out of the door. She drove straight to the hospital to see what happened to her beloved Nico.


	7. Chapter 7

Honoka barged into the hospital and went right to the receptionist. "Yazawa Nico! Where…Where is…she?" Honoka asked desperately in short breaths.

The receptionist looked through the computer and saw Nico's room. "2-G."

The orange-haired woman bowed before dashing to the room.

Once she got there, she peered her head into the door. She saw purple hair from the curtain, so she knew that Nozomi and Eli were there.

"Hey," Honoka said. The married couple looked over to see the orange-haired woman and smiled. However, Honoka thought that she saw a look of disdain from them. "Nico-chan's here?"

"Yeah, come on over," Nozomi said.

Honoka took a seat and held Nico's hand. "How are you feeling, Nico-chan?"

She saw that Nico was just staring outside the window, her hand supporting her chin. The black-haired woman sighed. "Eli, Nozomi. Can you leave for a bit? And if you haven't, call everyone from Muse."

"Even…" Nozomi was going to ask, "Even Maki-chan?" before she remembered that Honoka was here. They knew the reason why Nico had the sudden attack; the doctor explained everything once she was finished with her emergency check-up and they just connected the dots after they knew.

"Yes, even her." Nico coldly said, which made Nozomi and Eli shrivel up and obey Nico's command. "They would want to check up on me since this happened, right?"

"Right…" Eli said. So, she and Nozomi went outside to call the five other women.

Once the two women left the room, the other married couple were alone in the room. Honoka brought Nico's hand to her lips and kissed it. "How are you, Nico-chan?"

Nico still didn't turn her head to her wife, which was making Honoka a bit irritated. However, she knew not to be angry at someone who just finished a surgery.

"I don't know," Nico replied sarcastically. "I could be better."

Honoka dryly laughed. "Always a joker, huh."

"How could you do this to me?" Nico asked which, for Honoka, was out of the blue. "After everything we've been through?"

"What do you mean Nico-chan?"

The older woman sighed. "You know what happened, Honoka? I got something called 'broken-heart syndrome.'"

"Why did that happen?"

" **Don't play dumb with me, Honoka!** " Nico nearly screamed at her wife. She harshly pulled her hand away from Honoka's grasp.

"W-What do you mean?" Honoka nervously asked.

"You HAD SEX with Maki! I know, Honoka!" Nico said to her wife as she turned her head to face Honoka. Honoka saw the tear-stained cheeks on her wife's face.

Honoka's mouth was dry. She was barely able to get her words out. "…How did you know?"

"You remember that day? When you were getting fucked by that red-headed bitch?" Nico said, not restricting herself from being harsh and cold to her wife. "I came home early. Sure, I lied about when my tour was finished. But you know, it would have been a nice surprise. My wife welcomes me home with loving arms, and all that shit.

But no, I get welcomed home by my wife being fucked by someone I called my friend. Hell, I called you my best friend!"

"N-Nico-chan!" Honoka grabbed Nico's wrist with any ounce of strength she had. Hearing that Nico saw her having sex with Maki made Honoka feel like any amount of strength had drained out of her. It made her feel even more guilty than she did already. "I…I'm so sorry!"

 _ **SLAP!**_

Nico loosened her wrist from Honoka's grasp and gave her a hard slap on the cheek. "Do you think sorry is going to cut it? Really?"

"I-"

"We're married! Breaking my trust isn't something that can be easily fixed! And of course, it had to be Maki. I thought everything about her would have been gone. Eight years, Honoka. EIGHT FUCKING YEARS! You had six to get rid of them. I truly love you and yet, your first love could do that to you? She was able to fuck you behind my back? Forget about everything that we've been through?

"And if I didn't see it, I know you two would break. Did you plan to hide this from me? When we're supposed to be honest with each other? For those three days, you didn't think once about calling me? Telling me that it happened? Sure, I would have been mad. But, not as mad as I am right now. If you did that, at least I would know that you would feel an ounce of regret.

"I'm a bit happy that I found out like this. I learned how much of a selfish, awful bitch you are. You get to indulge on your selfish desire while I'm out here trying to show my damn love for you **every fucking day.** "

Honoka was grabbing onto the sheets of the bed. Everything that Nico said was just how Nico always talks. With brutal honesty. She couldn't fight her words. Everything that Nico said was true. But she knew that she still loved Nico.

"N-Nico…chan…" Honoka said in a small voice. She couldn't muster up any energy to reply strongly. "I…I still-"

"Love me?" Nico interrupted before Honoka could finish. "Do you really? I thought that marriage was between two people. And they would stay faithful to each other until they died. **Clearly** , that isn't fucking true. I still love you, Honoka. I hate that I do. Why should I love the only person that broke my heart?

"Now doesn't that sound familiar…Maybe I should go and fuck someone else. You know, to help me forget about **you.** "

This brutal talk made Honoka into a quivering mess. Nico hated seeing her wife like this. But, she deserved it. Was she a bit too harsh? Maybe. But, Honoka pushed a line that should not have been crossed. In her head, Nico was harsh enough.

"Now, go away. And tell Maki to stay away from me too. I don't ever want to see you again."

"Nico-"

"I SAID GO!" Nico shouted before she turned her back on the person she loved.

Honoka felt all of her strength leave her body. Once Nico said those final words, she knew that everything was wrong. Nico was hurt, but she couldn't even tend to her wife. After her affair with Maki, she couldn't make up with Nico. Their bond was broken all because Honoka's primal instincts had to overpower her. That stupid high school love went and ruined everything.

Once she stepped out of the room, she felt her heart sink further. Eli and Nozomi probably knew about Honoka's affair. She knew that her other friends didn't know about it. Until now, when she saw her friends standing outside the room.

She wasn't alone in this. Maki was there as well, and she looked just as uncomfortable as Honoka did. All the orange-haired woman could think was that she deserved it too.

Honoka could only walk past them, not wanting to meet their gazes. How could her friends trust her anymore? After hearing everything that she tried to keep hidden, it was all on the table. Everyone would side with Nico, and why wouldn't they? Honoka and Maki were the worst of the worst, and Nico was just the innocent victim.

What she didn't see was the sympathy in her friend's eyes. Shrouded in the disgust and shock of the situation, they knew that they still loved the orange-haired woman.

"H-Honoka…" Umi tried to croak out. She tried to get her attention by grabbing Honoka's shoulder, but it was coldly shrugged off.

"Why would you want to talk with someone as disgusting as I am? Go comfort the person that deserves it," Honoka said without any emotion. She turned her attention to the red-head. "You heard her, Maki. **LEAVE!** "

The way Honoka suddenly raised her voice and shouted made everyone jump. It was the last thing Honoka did before they saw her leave their sights.

Umi was about to run to her friend when she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Looking behind her saw Eli standing there, shaking her head.

"She's right, Umi. Don't you want to see Nico?" Eli asked.

"Of course I do," Umi said. "But, she's my best friend. I don't want her to do something stupid."

"We understand that," Nozomi replied. "We'll talk to her. We'll stay here for a bit, since we've been with Nico for a while."

Umi nervously nodded. She was shaking, very worried about what Honoka would do. The rest of them agreed and started to walk into the room.

"Maki-chan," Kotori's warm voice said. The red-head was starting to leave. "Can you stay in the parking lot? Just in your car or whatever."

"Why?"

"I want to talk to you."

Maki sighed. "What would-"

"Please?" It was Kotori's way of convincing Umi, but without any of the playfulness. It was a sincere request, and Maki would just feel even worse if she declined.

"Fine."

Kotori bowed before Maki started to leave. _I saw how Honoka looked at me. The way she yelled at me._ Maki sighed. _I fucked this all up. It's my fault. If I just did what I was doing for the past few years, everything would have been fine. But because I had my lust take over, I ruined all of our friendships._

While Maki was leaving, Hanayo asked the ash-brunette, "Why do you want to talk to Maki-chan?"

"I just want to know what happened. I want to give her a chance. Everyone deserves one, right?" Kotori asked.

"M-Maybe," Hanayo meekly replied.

Kotori nodded. She didn't disagree with that. She really believed that everyone deserves a second chance. But, for this to happen in her close group of friends…What would happen with them?

"Nico-chi." Nozomi softly said, which made Nico turn her head. "Everyone's here."

The idol weakly smiled. "I'm glad. Thanks for coming."

"Nico-chan…" Rin softly said. "We're so sorry for what happened."

"It's...It's fine." Nico closed her eyes, not wanting to look weak in front of her friends. "It…It was fucked up, you know?"

"Yeah. We know." Umi lightly pushed Nico so that she was facing everyone. They all saw her constant stream of tears falling. "Do you really not believe that she loves you?"

"Of course I don't!" Nico replied, a bit too quickly. "She's…a bitch! Breaking my heart like that…"

She felt Umi and Rin's arms wrap around her.

"You don't have to hide your emotions, Nico-chan," Rin said. "She still loves you, and you love her too. Right?"

Nico dropped her head onto the shoulders of the two womans embracing her. "She hurt me so much! And yet…I don't ever want to stop loving her! It was unforgivable, but I know I would take her back! I don't know what to do!" She began to wail into their shoulders, staining their shirts with tears.

"Calm down," Umi said as she stroked Nico's hair. "I don't know if you can truly forgive either Maki or Honoka. But, if you take some time to think, maybe you'll find an answer. Maybe you and Honoka will get back together. If you both recover from this, that would show the bond that you two have. I don't know how long it will take to forgive Maki. But, she's your friend, right?" Umi felt a nod. "As I said, give it some time. Figure out your feelings, and things will settle. We'll be on your side. What Honoka and Maki did was unforgivable. But you have to know that we're going to be their friends as well. I still see Honoka as my best friend, even if she did this to you. And I still see Maki as a friend."

Nico took a few breaths before responding. "I…I understand. I don't want to lose them but…It hurts."

"We know." Umi saw that Eli and Nozomi were gone. "Eli and Nozomi are going to your house. Honoka's there, and we're all worried for her."

Nico sniffled. "Was I…too harsh?"

Kotori shook her head. "I don't think you were, Nico-chan. Everything that they did was wrong. They should be scolded, even with how abrasive you were. But, it was hard to hear."

Nico sighed and then wiped her tears away. "I'm just…so frustrated with everything."

"Well, we just need to take some time," Umi said with a faint smile. "You just had an attack, we don't want to push you too hard."

Nico nodded. "Right."

…

Eli and Nozomi were driving in silence. They wanted to assure Umi that Honoka would be okay. However, they don't know what happened to the woman.

"D-Do you think Honoka-chan is home?" Nozomi nervously asked.

Eli was steady while driving, however Nozomi saw her hands shaking. "Maybe. That's why we're going there first."

"Okay," was all Nozomi could say.

As they approached the house, they saw Honoka's car in the driveway.

"Well, she must be here. Her car is there," Eli stated.

"Alright. Should we just…go to the door?"

"I-I guess."

The two stepped out of their car and quickly walked to the door.

"Honoka?!" Eli said as she banged the door with her fist. She knew how attentive Honoka was to visitors, so she was assuming that Honoka would respond at any moment.

Five seconds passed.

Ten seconds passed.

And the two were worried. Eli noticed that the curtains were covering the window. _Honoka closed up the windows. That could mean…_

"Nozomi, call 119."

"Eli-chi?"

"JUST DO IT!" Eli screamed out of panic. Nozomi fumbled her phone around and was getting very overwhelmed. It was like when they had to call when Nico had her attack.

Eli looked everywhere for a spare key. She remembered where Nico said they left it. Lifting the doormat, she saw the silver key. She picked it up and started to open the door. It took a while as she was trembling.

Finally getting it opened, the blonde put it in her pocket as she walked into the home. It was pitch-black. Finding the light switch, she flicked it on and looked at the horror in front of her.

The television was face-down on the floor, glass scattered everywhere. There were smashed plates in the kitchen, and there were many picture frames smashed on the floor. All of the pictures were Honoka and Nico together, many events that Eli remembered. However, what worried her most was the body strewn across the floor.

Honoka was not a drinker. During all of their get-togethers, Honoka was always offered alcohol. However, she always blamed the taste of it and stuck to her fruit punch. Nico was the opposite of that, but she knew moderation. So, what Eli saw was Honoka's body lying on the floor. She was clutching an empty strawberry liquor bottle, which Eli could assume was near full.

"Honoka!" Eli dashed to the woman, lifting her body so that it rested against the foot of the couch. "Honoka! Stay with me!" She heard the faint breathing coming from her younger friend; the only sign of relief Eli had. "NOZOMI! HOW MUCH LONGER?!"

"I CAN SEE THE AMBULANCE NOW!" Her wife yelled from across the yard.

"Okay. Did you hear that, Honoka? They're coming to help you now. Stay with me! Please…" Eli said through her sobs. It was clear that Honoka was not in a right state of mind. _A full bottle...Honoka..._

"Nico…chan…I'm sorry…" Honoka continued to whisper. Eli heard these faint sounds and nearly broke down.

"Why? Why is everything going wrong?" Eli whispered out.

The paramedics came and quickly got to work, putting Honoka on a stretcher and leading her to the ambulance.

The blonde told her wife to call everyone about what happened. She would go with Honoka, as she wanted someone to be there with her. Looking at the ambulance, she could only hope that a miracle could happen.


	8. Chapter 8

_**KNOCK!**_

Hearing that made Maki wake from her sleep. Waiting in the car was boring, but she was not going to just ditch Kotori. The ash-brunette was outside of the car, waving at the red-head. She had a small smile, which made Maki's heart tighten. That small smile was filled with pain, and Maki couldn't look at her. _God, I hurt her friend. What does she want with me?_

She unlocked the door and Kotori stepped into the passenger seat. "Hello, Maki-chan," the older woman greeted.

"Hi," Maki said nervously.

The silence after the greeting was unnerving, but it was quickly broken.

"Why did you want to talk to me, Kotori?" Maki asked. "Do you really want to be talking to me? Someone that ruins everything?"

"We're still friends, Maki-chan."

Maki's eyes widened. "Are you kidding me? With everything I did to Nico? To Honoka, your **best friend**? I'm an awful person."

"Maybe you are," Kotori stated bluntly. Those words sounded so much worse coming from someone who was so polite. "But I always believe that people deserve a second chance. You aren't an exception, and neither is Honoka-chan. What you guys did…It wasn't right."

Maki sighed. "Don't you think I know that? I tried to forget about it, but it was always in my mind."

"Why did you do it?" Kotori asked, changing the subject.

"W-What?" The sudden question caught Maki off-guard. The bigger question was how Maki could answer this.

"You heard me," Kotori said in a more commanding tone. Her soft voice didn't fit it well, but it was making Maki quiver.

The red-head sighed. "I guess it was because Nico wasn't there. I never got Honoka out of my mind. I know that I've told you guys about me going out with other people. I wanted to find the one spark. But, there was only one person that could give it to me."

"And that was Honoka-chan." Maki nodded in response. She reverted back to her habit of twirling her hair. Not out of boredom, but out of nervousness. "Did you kiss her first?"

"I did." Maki deflated a bit.

"Okay. I wouldn't have expected Honoka-chan to do it. Did you enjoy it?"

"Of course I did. I'm awful for doing so. I get to kiss the one I love. Have sex with the one I love. And for what? For me to ruin Honoka's relationship with Nico? To cause a giant ripple in our circle of friends? One night of happiness for me was not worth all of this."

Kotori leaned over and hugged Maki. "You don't have to hide your tears. I can see them in your eyes, Maki-chan."

So, she took Kotori's 'advice' and cried into Kotori's shoulder. "I'm sorry!" Maki cried out. "I fucked up everything! I want to take it back!"

The ash-brunette held Maki by the shoulders. "You can't take this back, Maki-chan." Maki nodded. "But the least you can do is respect their space. Umi-chan said that it will take time for you three to be okay again. And she's right."

Maki was shaking, feeling awful once again. However, Kotori's words, despite having the negative connotation, was comforting. "O-Okay. I'll just…take some time. I can't be close to Honoka or Nico right now. I'll just be alone."

"Nonsense!" Kotori took a hold of Maki's hand. "We're still friends. If you want to be with anyone, we'll be there."

"Are you sure?" Maki asked with hesitance.

"What have I been telling you?" Kotori playfully scolded.

Maki faintly smiled. "Right."

 _ **RING!**_

 _ **RING!**_

Within seconds of each other, both Maki and Kotori's cellphones rang. They looked at each other, confused.

 _That's…weird._ The two both thought.

"Hello?"

The both of them had their own conversations. Both were panicked, but the ash-brunette looked more worried.

"Maki-chan. Please hurry to the hospital!" Kotori said quickly. Maki was just hanging up when Kotori basically demanded her.

"I was planning to. It was the hospital. Don't you want to go to your car?" Maki asked.

"Hurry, Maki-chan! Please!"

"Who called?"

"It was Nozomi-chan. Honoka-chan…she's hurt…"

"Put your seatbelt on. Hurry."

Maki quickly started her car once the two were ready and drove to the Nishikino hospital as fast as she could.

…

"Huh?" Umi looked at her phone, seeing Nozomi calling.

"Who is it?" Nico asked.

"Nozomi. I guess she got to your house." Picking up her phone, she calmly answered. "Nozomi?"

"Umi-chan!" Nozomi said, her voice in a panicked state.

"Gosh!" Umi held the phone away from her ear, but quickly put it back. "Nozomi, that was too loud-"

"Honoka-chan…"

The bluenette froze, becoming short of breath. "W-What about Honoka?"

Nico's head turned, as did Rin's and Hanayo's.

"Honoka? What about her?" Nico asked.

"Honoka-chan was home…" Umi could hear the sobs Nozomi was holding back as she was speaking. "…Their home is a mess…She was passed out…on the floor…she drank a full bottle of alcohol…"

"WHAT?" Umi screamed out.

"Please…come to Maki-chan's hospital. Eli-chi is going with her now," Nozomi said before she hung up.

"Nozomi!"

"Umi-chan?" Rin said with concern. "What's happening?"

"Honoka's going to the hospital."

Nico looked at the blue-haired woman with horror. "H-Hospital? Why is she going there?"

"She…drank a whole bottle of alcohol. She might have alcohol poisoning…" Umi was panicking as she responded to Nico and was packing her stuff. "She might have cuts…Nozomi told me that your house was a mess."

Everything was crumbling away in Nico's eyes. "I need to see her. Hanayo, call a doctor."

Umi stopped moving and looked at her friend. "Are you serious, Nico? What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to be there for her!" Nico said, raising her voice.

"You should be resting here, Nico!" Umi argued back. "You're still recovering!"

"I don't care! I'm fine! You can't stop me from seeing my wife!" Nico tried to untangle herself from the tubes attached to her.

"Nico-chan, stop!" Rin was fighting with the black-haired woman. "You have to take care of yourself!"

"I don't care about that! I want to know that Honoka is okay!" Nico kept saying as she was fighting back.

 _I…I feel so weak…_

As Rin was struggling with Nico, she felt the woman's resistance going down. "Nico-chan? Did you calm down?"

Hanayo was behind Umi and Rin, but she was looking at Nico. When she heard about Nico being in the hospital and the reason she was in there for, she looked up the syndrome. Looking at Nico, she saw the short breaths. Nico was subtly clutching her chest. "Oh my god!"

 _It…It hurts…again…_

 _My…my chest…_

 _It's just…like last time…_

"Hanayo?" Umi looked back, but saw that Hanayo ran out the door. "Are you okay, Nico?"

"H-Help…Hurts…" Nico said before she screamed in pain.

"DOCTOR! WE NEED A DOCTOR!" Umi shouted. Just as she did, Hanayo came back with the doctor and two nurses.

"Please, we need you to leave." The doctor said as he was preparing everything to treat the idol. The two nurses motioned the three womans out of the room and the door was quickly shut.

"W-What's going to happen?" Rin asked.

Umi wiped away her constant stream of tears. "I-I don't know…"

…

"Oh god…" Eli mumbled to herself as she was in the ambulance. She was holding Honoka's hand, hoping that her friend would be okay.

"Miss, can you please tell us what happened?" The paramedic asked.

"Uh…" Eli was hesitating, mostly because she was in disbelief. "My friend…I didn't see anything. I think she drank a full bottle of strawberry liqueur. We called because she is not a drinker. She might have alcohol poisoning. She was passed out."

"Okay," the paramedic calmly interrupted Eli. "We know this is hard for you. We just needed some background. Thank you."

Eli shakily nodded as her eyes went back to her friend. _Honoka…please be alright…_

They reached the hospital, which happened to be very familiar to the blonde. _This would count as an emergency…so, that could mean…_

Eli saw the familiar red car in the parking lot as she was running with the paramedics.

"Miss, we need you to stay outside. She will be rushed to the emergency room," the paramedic told her. Eli nodded and thanked them for helping Honoka.

As she was walking to the waiting room, she saw Kotori sitting there. She had her face buried into her palms and was crying her heart out.

Eli's trembling hand reached out and touched Kotori's shoulder, causing the woman's head to poke up. All she could do was have a small smile, trying to comfort her friend by any means. All Kotori could do was jump into Eli's arms and cry.

"I'm so sorry, Kotori!" Eli cried out, joining the woman in the sobs. "We should have gone earlier! We could have stopped her!"

Kotori didn't respond, but she continued to cry. "I'm so scared, Eli-chan!"

"Me too!"

They stayed like that for a few minutes, taking a seat as they continued to cry. It was something that they never thought they would have to go through. Two of their friends are in the hospital, both are tending to dangerous situations. All in the middle of an affair between their group of friends.

They started to calm down after those few minutes. They sat in silence, waiting for Honoka's results.

"Is Maki here?" Eli asked, ending the silence.

"She is. I talked to her after we were with Nico. I left my car there while Maki-chan and I drove here in her car," Kotori answered.

"Okay." The two didn't want to talk that much. The situation right now was not the right time for small talk. All they could focus on was Honoka.

"Thank you." Eli's head turned to look at the ash-brunette.

"For what?"

"You helped Honoka-chan."

Eli lightly blushed. "Anyone would have. Especially any of us."

The doors of the emergency room opened, with Maki coming out first. The two other womans quickly walked over to the red-head.

"How is she?! Will Honoka-chan be alright?!" Kotori asked.

Maki sighed. "She will." The two breathed a sigh of relief. "But, she's going to be out for a while. She drank a lot of alcohol, but she should be fine. The poisoning wasn't lethal, but it was a dangerous amount."

"I…I guess that's better than…" Kotori shook the image that was forming in her head and stopped herself.

"Yeah…it is," Eli weakly replied.

"How long do you think she'll be asleep for?" Kotori asked.

"I don't know…I think she'll be gone for at least today," Maki explained.

 _ **RING!**_

"Huh? Hanayo-chan?" Kotori held her phone. "Hello? What?"

The two womans heard the panic in Kotori's voice.

"Kotori? What's wrong?" Eli asked.


	9. Chapter 9

Three heads perked up when they heard Nico's door open. The doctor came out, very distraught.

They could only assume…

"Doctor?" Umi hesitantly said.

"I'm so sorry. We did all we could, but…Nico has passed," the doctor told them.

"No…" Rin covered her mouth with her hands.

Everyone started to tear up. Those tears quickly changed into full-blown crying for Rin and Hanayo. Umi had to stay strong, despite her emotions quickly breaking by the second.

"How? W-What happened?" Umi asked, her voice trembling.

"From what we could see, she had another attack. 'Broken Heart Syndrome,' we believe. I know that she had that same attack yesterday. Sadly, her heart couldn't take another one. I'm so sorry, again. I could see that you were really good friends."

Umi held back her tears. "She…she was. Thank you, doctor."

He bowed to the women before leaving. Umi was between Hanayo and Rin, who were both leaning onto Umi's shoulders. Umi was struggling not to cry. She wanted to be strong.

"Umi-chan!" Nozomi said as she turned the corner. "How…is she…" Nozomi saw the two women crying on Umi's shoulders.

"Nozomi…" Umi choked back her tears. "C-Come here…"

Nozomi trudged over to Umi, fell to her knees and cried into Umi's lap. And Umi soon joined the sobs.

Nico's love for Honoka was what killed her.

Hanayo was the first to recover, although she was struggling to do so. "I'm going to call them," she said loud enough to overpower their collective sobs. "They need to know."

Umi nodded, being able to barely hear Hanayo. "They do."

And Hanayo hesitantly dialed up Kotori's phone.

…

"Kotori? What's wrong?"

"Hanayo-chan! Please tell me you're lying!" Kotori begged from the phone. "You're…You're not…" The ash-brunette started to wipe away a new set of tears.

"Kotori?" Maki called her name, but she wouldn't stop listening to her phone. They were hearing Kotori say things like "okay" or "no."

"Yes, everyone else is here," Kotori struggled to say through her tears. "Honoka-chan will be okay…but, she won't be awake today. Maki-chan was her doctor. I'll tell them."

Eli and Maki saw Kotori shuddering as she hung up.

"Kotori?" They both said.

"Nico…" She sucked in a breath. "Nico-chan…she…p-p..." Kotori couldn't finish the dreaded statement as she shut down and cried again.

The two knelt down and put a hand on each of Kotori's shoulders. "What happened to-"

"She's dead!" Kotori bluntly said with a raised voice. "Nico-chan passed away!"

The two could only stare at her in disbelief. "W-What?" Eli's voice was small as she said it.

"She…she had another attack. And…her heart gave out. I can't believe it…" Kotori said as she began to cry again.

"Maki!" Eli called out, but the red-head didn't turn around. She wanted to be alone. She walked outside of the hospital and sat at the entrance.

 _It's all my fault. Honoka may say that she's to blame as well. But no. There's no doubt that it's all my fault._

 _If I just controlled myself that one day. If I didn't push my feelings onto Honoka, Nico would never have seen us. She wouldn't have had that first attack._

 _It was wrong. So, so wrong. I knew that but…I never knew it would have ended up like this. It was going to be bad once Nico found out. But, someone actually dying because of it?_

"Maki," Eli called out, making the red-head turn around.

"What do you want?! Do you want me to sleep with your wife as well?! Ruin another relationship?! Destroy everything that I hold dear to my heart?!" Maki loudly pestered the blonde.

She knelt down behind the red-head. "I'm still going to be your friend, Maki."

"Why?!" Maki shook her head out of frustration. "I'm the worst of the worst. A person that thinks of herself before others. Why would you want to even look at me, let alone be my 'friend?'"

"I don't know." Eli wrapped her arms around Maki. "But I want to make sure my friends are protected. I know I couldn't save Nico. But, I don't want you or Honoka to go away too."

"A-And neither do I," Kotori said from the door, making the two women turn their heads. "Nico-chan…passed away because she wanted to see Honoka-chan. Hanayo-chan told me that Nico-chan loved Honoka-chan so much that it killed her. Yes, everything happened because of that night. But…we can't lose you. Either of you." Kotori did as Eli did and wrap her arms around the red-head. "Maybe this is a mistake. But, I want to still be your friend."

Maki's tears bled into the sleeves of her friends. She wouldn't stop crying, and neither of them minded. "I'm so sorry!" Maki shouted out into their arms. "I want to die! I can't live with myself anymore!"

"I know it's hard, Maki," Eli tried to assure her friend with a soothing tone. "You did something awful."

"But it's not worth your life," Kotori said, imitating Eli's calming voice. "We want you to know that we'll always be by your side."

Maki, through her watery eyes, looked to both of her sides. Warms smiles were on the two faces that were her friends. "I don't deserve this."

"Maybe you don't," Kotori replied. "But, I always think people deserve second chances."

Maki turned and hugged Kotori, who took the sobbing red-head into her embrace. Eli was there, stroking Maki's hair. "We'll be here for you."

* * *

"Ugh…" Honoka slowly opened her eyes. _Where am I?_ She felt too weak to turn her head. With her limited movement, she looked around. It looked like a familiar room. One where Nico was before. _Am I in the hospital?_

She saw a blurry blue head of hair. "Umi…chan?"

The woman quickly perked her head up. "Honoka?! Oh my god!" Umi hugged her friend and softly sobbed. Soon, the rest of the room turned and looked at Honoka's bed.

Maki sighed. "Thank god you're awake."

"Huh?" Honoka looked at her friends with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You do remember what happened, right?" Nozomi asked.

She thought back and all she could remember was the painful memories of that day. Getting talked down her wife because of her unfaithfulness. Going back home. Downing a bottle of sweet alcohol. And then, the rest was all blurry.

"Y-Yes…" Honoka admitted ashamedly.

Umi looked at her friend sternly. "We know that it hurt to be like that. Just…please don't do it again." Umi sat Honoka up and hugged her. "We were so worried."

"Sorry." Honoka had a better look of the room. Looking at the seven women in front of her, there was one obvious person missing. "Where's Nico-chan? Actually…she wouldn't want to see me."

"She did, Honoka-chan!" Rin countered back. The women looked at her, which made Rin shrink back. "She did…" Rin said again, but in a much more hushed tone.

"She did?" _Nico-chan…might still love me? She might care about me, at least?_ "So, is she still at the hospital?"

"…"

No one knew how to respond. Despite her affair, the orange-haired woman looked like she still truly loved her wife. So, if she heard the news about Nico…No one would know how she would take it.

"Honoka-chan," the shy brunette was the first break the silence. "Nico-chan, she still loved you. She was hurt by what you did, but she couldn't stop loving you."

It amplified Honoka's emotions further. _Nico-chan loved me, even with how much I hurt her. Why does she love me? A horrible person. A terrible friend. Wait…_ "Hanayo-chan, what do you mean? She 'loved' me? You mean she still 'loves' me."

Umi shook her head. She dreaded to see Honoka's face after she told the dreaded news. "Honoka."

"Umi-chan?"

"Nico passed away."

It was as bad as everyone expected. Honoka looked crushed. Broken.

"You're…You're joking?"

"We aren't. When she heard about what happened to you, she wanted to see you. She was fighting us, not stopping at anything to see you," Umi explained drearily.

"But, Nico-chan was still recovering. We told her take care of herself," Rin continued. "But, she got too worried." Rin was starting to shudder, remember that she was the last one to hold Nico before her attack.

Umi hugged the woman, seeing how Rin was freezing up. "Just tell her what happened, Rin," Umi whispered into the orange-haired girl's ear.

Rin looked up to see the small smile on the bluenette's face. She nodded and turned her head to face Honoka again. "I was trying to stop her because I was so worried for her. And then…she had another attack. The doctors did everything they could, but…she couldn't recover from another one."

Honoka curled up into a ball, a bit clumsily with all of the tubes, and started shudder. "I…I never got to say…how sorry I was…show how much…I love her…"

She soon broke into a loud wail. No one did anything to stop her. They had their doubts about Honoka's true love for Nico, with the affair and everything that happened. But, they knew that she loved her wife. She deserved to know that Nico was gone. It wouldn't be right if she didn't.

Maki felt two hands poke her back. Looking behind her, she saw Eli and Kotori with uncomfortable smiles. _They want me to say something?_ Maki thought. It wouldn't be much help since she was a big part of everything happening. But, she felt like she could at least show how sorry she was.

The doctor walked up to the bed and poked Honoka. "I know that I should be the last person speaking to you."

 _Maki-chan? If you didn't do that to me…If you were a friend, you would have never touched me in that way. This is your fault. And you have the nerve to be speaking to me about Nico-chan?_

"But, I am so sorry. This was my fault, and I feel awful. I didn't know that everything I did would lead to this. I- Urk!"

A strong, dull thud was heard as Honoka sat up and used all of her strength to punch Maki straight in the gut. The six girls collectively gasped, Maki was coughing and clutching her stomach, and Honoka looked at the downed woman with an angry glare.

"Don't touch me **again**. Don't **speak** to me again. You ruined my life," Honoka coldly declared to the red-head.

"I'm…" Maki said through deep breaths, "…your doctor…Ho-"

"Then get me a new one!" Honoka yelled out. "I don't want to be treated by the person that ruined my life. LEAVE."

"You…" Maki wiped her eyes. "You promised that…we would be friends…" Maki said with her voice cracking.

"Not anymore. Not after this," Honoka said as her final words to the red-head.

Maki couldn't respond. They all knew that Honoka wasn't violent. But, she saw the furious gaze of the woman. She was punched hard from someone who just woke up from a dangerous situation. Honoka was firm on her stance.

The red-head slowly stood up. She tried to be strong as she said her goodbye to her friends, and most likely her final goodbye to the woman she loved. But, she looked pathetic. She let her tears fall as she bowed to the women she saw as friends. "I'm sorry!" Maki said as her voice cracked again. She turned around and quickly walked out the room as she was clutching her stomach.

"Maki!" Eli and Kotori both called out. They both started to follow the red-head.

"Eli-chan? Kotori-chan?" Honoka said with a pained voice. "Where are you going?"

"To our friend," Eli said. "She's still our friend, Honoka."

"How?! She killed Nico-chan!" Honoka exclaimed. "If she didn't kiss me, NONE of this would have happened!"

"You shouldn't have kissed her back!" Kotori replied back strongly. "It's not all Maki-chan's fault! You did this as well, Honoka-chan!"

"K-Kotori…" Umi said in a small voice. She would have expected someone like Nico or Maki to respond like that. The room didn't expect one of their most kind-hearted members say something so sensitive.

"I see how it is," Honoka answered back with an emotionless tone. "Go to her. Be on her side, you traitors."

Eli angrily glared at the orange-haired girl while Kotori wiped her tears away from her sleeve.

"What happened to you, Honoka-chan?" Kotori said, her voice pained. "You became so…cold."

"It's because of this fucked up life I have to live in," Honoka spitefully hissed. "Now leave. Go comfort your 'friend.' You know, not the one on this bed."

Kotori nearly went back and apologized. However, Eli stopped her. "Come on, Kotori." The blonde held out a hand, which Kotori took.

"Sorry, Honoka-chan," she whispered before going to find Maki. Their footsteps were frantic as the two looked for the red-head. It left Honoka and the four other women in the former's room.

"What? Are you going to leave me too?" Honoka coldly asked.

"We're worried about Maki-chan," Nozomi replied. "But, we're worried about you too."

She wanted to tell them off for caring about the red-head. But, all Honoka could do was hug Nozomi and cry. She could only focus on Nico's passing now. "I…I miss her so much!"

Nozomi faintly smiled. "We do too, Honoka-chan."

She had a bit of a struggle to say it. _Kotori-chan is only telling the truth. Sure, Maki-chan isn't innocent. But, neither is Honoka-chan. My best friend died, and it all happened because of that one night. Do you really love her, Honoka-chan?_

Meanwhile, Kotori and Eli found themselves on the rooftop, staring at the back of the red-head.

"Maki," Eli said, out of breath.

Maki took her attention away from the blue sky to look at the person who called her. "Hey," she plainly responded.

"What…" Kotori took a breath. "What are you doing here, Maki-chan?"

She took her attention away from her friends and looked back to the sky. "Just thinking about things. The love of my life hates me now. There's not a lot I can do anymore."

"M-Maki…" Eli said, somewhat afraid. "You're not thinking about…"

"No, I'm not. Don't worry about that," Maki replied before the blonde could say the word. "I have you guys to support me, and that's all I need. I don't want to cause any more problems. I'm afraid that something will happen, and I don't want everything to turn south again."

"So, what are you going to do?"

Maki sighed. "I think my best option is to move. Go overseas."

"Really?" Kotori asked. "Why?"

"With my credentials, I can get to many hospitals. No one will know me. Well, hopefully no on will know me. Just…don't worry about me," Maki faintly smiled as she looked at her two friends.

"Oh. W-When do you think you'll be leaving?" Eli asked.

"Hopefully this week."

"How about the hospital? Who's going to take over?" Kotori asked.

"I have a person in mind. Everything is planned out. I'll be gone for a while, and hopefully everything will be okay."

She felt two hands grab her shoulders. Turning around, she saw Eli and Kotori's arms open wide. She smiled as she let the arms wrap around her.

"We'll miss you," Eli said. "We'll tell the others once you leave the country. We'll drive you to the airport when you're ready."

Maki giggled. "You sound like my mom. Thanks."

"Be sure to call, Maki-chan," Kotori said. "We would want to hear your voice from time-to-time."

"I will, mom." The three girls giggled as they started to hold hands.

"I need to tell my staff, plan the flight, decide where I'm going, and pack my things," Maki said.

"Well, you should get to it," Kotori joked.

Maki smirked. "Thanks for being with me. This…horrible, disgusting person."

"You're welcome," Eli said. "We'll see you later, you know…after we drop you off."

"Yeah, I hope so too."

The two bowed before they left the rooftop, leaving Maki to herself.

 _Maybe this isn't the way to do this. But…It's the only thing I can think of. Goodbye, friends. Goodbye, Japan. Goodbye, Honoka. I hope I'll see you all later, and things can be somewhat okay again._


	10. Chapter 10

"Okay, we're here. Are you ready?" Eli asked her friend.

Maki nodded. "I'm ready to put this all behind me."

"You can't do that, Maki-chan. This was something that affected all of our lives," Kotori commented.

The red-head sighed. "Yeah. But…that's the way I'm seeing myself right now."

"And we wouldn't want it any other way," Eli said. The three went into a group hug before they unpacked Maki's luggage. "We'll miss you!"

"Yeah…I will too. When are you going to tell them?"

"Probably right after this. We'll get them together and tell them," Kotori said. Her emotion started to falter. "It's not like Honoka-chan would want to see me or Eli-chan."

Before the ash-brunette started to cry, Maki hugged her. "You'll make up with her. Not now, but eventually. What I did was unforgivable. All you two are doing is…nothing really."

Kotori fought back her tears, trusting Maki's words. "Right."

The three smiled as Maki walked into the airport.

"Be safe! And don't forget to call!" Eli said.

"I will! And I won't!" Maki replied as she waved to the two women that she can call her best friends.

Once the doors closed, the two women stood in a tense silence.

"So, should we go tell them?" Eli asked.

"Yes," Kotori replied.

…

"What?!" The table collectively said.

Eli and Kotori gathered their four friends at the burger place the went to when they were in high school. Their reaction was one the two expected.

"She just…left?" Umi said.

Kotori sighed. "I know it might not have been the best way to handle everything. But, it was the most logical way us three could see it. If she was here, she might have caused a lot more problems."

"How could she just leave?!" Nozomi nearly shouted, controlling herself as she was in a public place. "And you just let her!"

"Honey," Eli cooed. "You heard us out."

"Nico-chi's dead! Honoka-chan's broken! And yet, she has the nerve to leave without doing anything about it?!" Nozomi cried out, lightly pounding on her wife's chest. "I wanted all of us to be together…and now we're all falling apart."

Eli felt Nozomi shivering as she cried. "Don't think like that, Nozomi."

"But, it's the only way we can see it," Rin said. Hanayo could only nod, still speechless after hearing that Maki left the country.

"Look," Kotori said, taking the leader role. "You may not agree with Maki's choice. You might not even like Maki-chan anymore. But, she still our friend. Yes, everything was messed up because of Maki and Honoka. That doesn't mean I'm going to leave their side. Honoka might not want me around…but that just lets me be with Maki-chan. I'm not saying that I support her choice. But I am her friend, and I always will be."

Looking at her watch, she was trying to figure out when Maki would be landing. "Now, I'll be home waiting for Maki-chan's call. Excuse me."

Moving herself from the table and out the door, the other could only stare at the blank space that was in front of them.

"Who knew that Kotori could be like that?" Hanayo said.

"I did," Umi said. "Are you going too, Eli? We'll understand if you do."

Eli faintly smiled. "I would want to talk to my friend. Can you promise me to take Nozomi home?" Umi nodded. "Good…"

"How about you guys?" She asked before she left. "Are you going to be talking with Maki anytime soon?"

There was an awkward silence that shrouded the table once this question was put up in the air.

"Maybe…later," Rin replied first. "I still have to take in everything that's happened and everything that will happen."

"And we'll have to tell Honoka," Umi said. She got disapproving stares from everyone except Eli.

"She has to know," Eli replied, breaking the stares away and now making it face her. "She may not want to know everything about Maki, but she has to at least know that."

"Thank you," Umi sighed, "That's what I meant."

Eli knew that Hanayo would agree with Rin, so she turned to her wife. "How about you, Nozomi?"

"…I don't know," Nozomi replied quietly.

She felt a pair of arms wrap around her. "I know you don't. I know that Nico was your best friend. This could take a while for you to understand. For all of you." Eli kissed her wife on the forehead. "I love you, Non-tan. I'll see you at home."

The purple-haired woman could only nod as Eli left the table. She felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking to the direction had Umi's warm smile.

"You okay, Nozomi?" She asked. Nozomi could only silently nod. "We'll have to tell Honoka about this. Might as well do it now," she told the table. The three others nodded, and they soon left to head to the hospital.

…

Honoka has been recovering relatively well over the week. She was still being watched. Once the press heard of Nico's passing, it was plaster all over the news. The Nishikino hospital picked up on it and kept a close eye on the new widow. Honoka didn't like all of this attention. Thankfully, Nico's fans were (surprisingly) restrained and only showed a huge amount of sympathy for the orange-haired girl. But, that didn't mean she wasn't annoyed of it.

She felt sick to her stomach every time she thought about the love Nico's fans were showing her.

 _I don't deserve it._

 _I killed my wife._

 _I killed Nico._

Those were the thoughts that swirled in Honoka's mind. The only respite that she had was being around her friends. The ones that she didn't consider as traitors.

"What do you mean that Maki left?" Honoka asked after she heard about the news from her friends.

Umi checked her phone to make sure she got the details right. "Kotori texted me. She said that Maki moved to someplace in North America. She's going to be a doctor there."

"Wow, you **still** talk to Kotori? Even after she betrayed me?" Honoka coldly said. "And of course, Maki would just leave and let everything fuck itself up," she further commented.

"Alright, what the hell Honoka?! Kotori is still my friend. One of my best friends! And she's just trying to make sure that you're both okay. Ever since you acted so harsh towards her, she can't even make sure you're okay!" Umi shouted at her friend. "You are not going to control my life!"

"Then leave! Let me be alone and die in peace! All of you!" Honoka shouted back. "The bitch that fucked up my life left to make sure I suffer; my friends are being complete assholes towards me."

"I'm not trying to be an asshole!" Umi shouted again. "You became so cold ever since Nico died. And while I understand that…I don't think it's what Nico would have wanted."

"YOU DON'T KNOW MY WIFE!" Honoka screamed. "LET ME BE ALONE!"

She curled herself into a ball and faced away from her 'friends.' Umi was disappointed, furious, and sad that Honoka has deteriorated like this. She wanted to be there for her friend, but with the way she was acting right now she didn't want anything to do with her.

"Fine," Umi said, voice slightly faltering. "Just…please don't die on us, Honoka. We won't be able to handle another loss."

"…No promises," Honoka coldly said.

That pushed Umi to storm out of the room while slamming the door. She loved her friend. But to see her like this…Umi couldn't handle it. _Honoka…why are you doing this to yourself?_

In the room, the three other women were watching their friendships that they built up for so long be destroyed.

"Honoka…chan…" Nozomi tried to reach out.

"Didn't you hear me? LEAVE." Honoka harshly said. "I don't deserve anyone to be here with me."

They didn't want to argue Honoka. She had to rest up, they only thought. So, they started to leave.

Rin and Hanayo were the first to go out, saying their goodbyes before shutting the door. As Nozomi turned to leave, she turned to Honoka's direction.

"Nico-chi passed away because she loved you. You didn't deserve it. You cheated on her. And while I can't forgive Maki that easily for leaving us…I really thought I could forgive you. With how you're acting now, there's only one question that I could think about now.

"Did you really love Nico-chi?"

Those were the final words until Honoka heard the door slowly close. She was shuddering. Just thinking about Nozomi's question was making her think about her entire life.

"I…I don't even know…"

* * *

Her introduction to the new hospital she was working at used up a lot of effort. Once she got to her new apartment, she wanted to flop onto her bed and fall asleep. She wasn't think about anything in Japan, which was good for her psyche.

Her obligation to her friends was what made her think about her former home.

 _Well, I said I would call them._

Pulling out her laptop, she started to call up Eli and Kotori. Being in Canada felt somewhat at home, other than the time changing drastically. It was very late for her, so it would be very early for them. She didn't expect the immediate response.

"Maki?" "Maki-chan!" Both girls said.

"What the hell are you doing up so early?" She asked.

Kotori yawned. "We were waiting for you to call, Maki-chan. I know it's only been a day, but we miss you already."

"I miss you too, mom," Maki joked. "I nearly forgot. After getting home, I just wanted to sleep."

"Apologies, then. Since you're still up, can you tell us about how it is over there? Canada, right?" Eli asked.

Maki nodded. "Chilly. But the people are nice. The hospital I'm at is friendly, and the introduction day was fun," Maki told her two friends. She saw another person trying to join their call. "Umi?"

"What? What about Umi-chan?" Kotori asked.

Clicking the answer button, she and the two others saw Umi's face pop up onto the screen. "Hello there," Umi said. "And hello to you two as well."

"I wasn't expecting any of you guys talking to me who wasn't Eli or Kotori," Maki said confusedly. "What's up?"

"…I don't know if it's okay to talk about," the bluenette said nervously.

"Why not?"

"It's about Honoka."

Both Eli and Kotori sat there silent. It's been a week since Maki left Japan, but it was still pretty fresh-

"It's okay. I know the mistakes I made were bad. And I need to accept that. Moving wasn't the brightest idea, so listening to you guys may be the better option while I'm living here." Maki rested her chin on her hands. "So, what about Honoka?"

Umi sighed. "I think I had a similar falling out with her. Along the same lines as Eli and Kotori," the bluenette explained. "Just because I talked with you, she thought I was betraying her. It got…ugly. I got so upset. Our Honoka…she became **that** after everything."

"And you're blaming it on me," Maki said, her irritated tone evident. She didn't want to allow Umi to talk if all she would hear was the blame being shifted on her. She agreed with it, but it didn't mean that she wanted to hear it.

"No, I'm not," Umi said bluntly. "With you, I saw that you were trying to change. Moving away and trying to have a 'new' life was something understandable. This was a messed-up situation and you were just trying to better yourself, I guess. With Honoka, I knew that she would be taking it hard. Nico was her wife and I really saw the love she had for her. I told Honoka that Nico wouldn't want her to be like the way she is right now, which caused the fight to start. I want her to change and yet…nothing. It's only been a week, but I thought that she would try to do anything."

"It's okay, Umi-chan," Kotori said. "You don't need to cry."

She wiped away the tears she didn't know formed. "I'm just so worried for her…and she's just pushing all of her friends away."

"We all are worried for her," Maki said. "She'll come around. Not for me, but for all of you."

Umi faintly smiled. "Thanks for that." Shaking her depressing feelings away, Umi had a slightly bigger smile. "I haven't seen you for a while. How have you been, Maki?"


	11. Chapter 11

"Huh?" Maki said as she was on her break. "Hanayo and Rin?" _I mean, I guess if they're calling me…_

Clicking the button, she saw the two women that she always saw as the cutest couple. "Hello? Maki-chan?" Hanayo said.

"Yeah, I'm here," Maki said. "W-What's up?" She stuttered, not expecting the call from two people she cut off her ties from. So, to get a call out of the blue…

"It's been a while, huh?" Rin said with a small laugh. "Around…"

"A year," Hanayo answered for her wife. "What are you doing right now, Maki-chan?"

"I was on my break from the hospital," she said.

"Oh!" Hanayo said embarrassedly. "We can talk later! We don't want to disturb-"

"Hey," Maki said, stopping the brunette from rambling more. "Calm down. I can talk for a while. The hospital isn't that busy. Why did you call, not to be rude?"

"We…missed seeing you, Maki-chan," Rin said.

Maki stirred a bit. "So, are you…over with what I did?"

There was a small silence, and Maki regretted asking her question.

"Not entirely," Rin said. "But, I think we've been getting more…used to this life."

"I guess that's good," Maki said. "Do you keep in touch with the others?"

Hanayo nodded. "We always ask Kotori-chan or Eli-chan about how you've been. And we all hang out with each other from time-to-time."

"Even Honoka?" Maki saw how tense the two women got and regretted bringing her up. "You don't have to answer that. I didn't-"

She saw Hanayo shake her head. "It's fine. It's just that Honoka got…a bit more distant. Umi-chan, Kotori-chan, and Eli-chan still don't talk to her. And from the looks of it, Honoka-chan doesn't want to either. She lets me, Rin-chan, and Nozomi-chan close to her."

"Has…she been doing well?" Maki nervously asked.

"She has," Hanayo plainly said. "Before, she was always sulking. She always had her mind on Nico-chan, and she had suicidal thoughts. She was at the hospital for three months, just trying to get help and get away from those thoughts. She's been able to go back home, but we've let her stay at our house."

"She's been on anti-depressants," Rin continued, "And it seems like it's working. She's been okay for the entire year and she's seems a bit happier."

"That's good to hear," Maki commented.

"How about you? Are you doing okay?" Rin asked.

Maki dryly laughed. "For leaving my friends and having most of them be out of the loop, I think I've been doing alright. I still think about everything that happened and I still feel awful. But, I think that moving away helped me cope with it."

"Are you going to come back soon?" Hanayo asked optimistically.

The red-head frowned. "I know that it's been quite a while since we've seen each other. But, I don't think I'm ready or deserve to be back there. Sorry."

"It's fine. We understand."

"You should join in when we have our talks. Eli, Kotori, Umi and I take some time and talk to each other about our lives. I'll invite you guys the next time," Maki said excitedly.

The two beamed. "We would love to join!" Rin said. She was still getting over the ugliness of everything, as was Hanayo. However, they did miss their friend and it would be nice to talk to her again.

"What about Nozomi-chan? You didn't mention her," Hanayo commented.

Maki's glee turned sour. "I know that Kotori and Umi moved in with Eli and Nozomi. So, I thought that it would make the talks we have seem more comfortable with Nozomi. But…she always avoids the room when we're talking. Besides Honoka, I think she was affected a lot by Nico's passing as well."

"I think I can see that," Rin said. "I remember when you left for Canada and Eli and Kotori told us about it. She seemed like she was the most hurt by your action."

Maki sighed. "They were best friends. So, inadvertently killing her and then leaving couldn't have been nice. I want to make up with her, but I don't think it will be for a while."

"On the bright side…at least you got some friends back…?" Hanayo questioningly said.

"If you'll be my friends after all of that shit," Maki said.

"We will," the two said simultaneously. Maki could only smile. Little by little, her life was becoming somewhat stable again. At least…with her life in Japan.

* * *

Maki's ringtone went off during the middle of the night. She's been staying up late because of her job, so any type of rest was welcomed. That rest being interrupted was not, however.

"Hello?" Maki said, the irritation oozing from her voice.

"Maki-chan," a soft voice said.

 _Huh?_ Maki quickly sat up in her bed. Any type of drowsiness left when she heard her spiritual senior talk. "N-Nozomi?"

"Can we talk?"

"S-Sure. Isn't it late over there?" Maki asked. "Where's the other three?"

"Sleeping. I'm in the bathroom right now, downstairs. I wanted to talk to you, Maki-chan."

"…" Maki didn't know what to say. She was talking to a woman who she hasn't talked to for a year and a half. And she had a strong, negative feeling about what Nozomi wanted to talk about.

"You know what I mean, don't you Maki-chan?"

"…Probably," she simply responded.

"Why did you have to leave, Maki-chan?" Nozomi said. Maki heard the saddened tone coming from Nozomi's voice and her heart felt like it was crushed.

"You…You know the reason, Nozomi," Maki tried to explain. "If I was there, it would have caused more problems."

"That doesn't explain anything!" Nozomi quietly exclaimed. Maki heard the sobs of her senior. "Our friendships that we built up from high school…something that I treasured…it's all ruined, and you only ran away from it!"

"I know!" Maki said, also through her sobs. "…I know…I wanted to keep our friendships…but what I did fucked it all up…"

"Maki…" Nozomi knew that it was some heavy things that the two would talk about. But, she figured that Maki forgot about it all ever since she moved.

"You don't have to say it, Nozomi! Everything you're saying is true! Nico's gone, Honoka's gotten better but I can only think that she feels awful every single day, and I'm tortured with the fact that everything happened because of my impulsive action. I hate myself every single day, and I'm only alive because I don't want my friends to be more upset than they already are! I want to be better. I want to make sure that I can't hurt anybody ever again. I hope you understand that."

"…I…I do," Nozomi hesitantly said. She didn't expect the brutal honest words to be thrown her way.

"I know how much you loved Nico. She was your best friend, and I knew that you would be the last one to come around and forgive me. I feel like I'm in a similar place. I'll never be able to love someone again. I ruined the life of the one girl I loved, and I don't deserve to love anyone else. And to be honest, I can't love anyone else. No matter how much I want to forget her and not love her, I never will."

"Maki…"

"I'm not expecting any sort of acceptance. I don't deserve it, and the women that gave me forgiveness…I don't know why they did. I don't want forgiveness, but I want you to listen to me. I'm going to tell you this stupid idea, and I don't want you to tell **anyone** else."

"I'll try-"

"I don't want to hear that," Maki said coldly. "Please Nozomi. Tell **no one**."

The older woman sucked in a breath and sharply exhaled. "Okay. I promise."

"…"

"Maki-chan!" Nozomi said as she finished hearing Maki's idea. Her eyes were wide, and she couldn't think straight. "T-That's…crazy!"

"I know. But, it's the only way I can see to help me forget Honoka."

"You've said that it's been the 'only way' before, and look where that's gotten us," Nozomi argued.

"You aren't making me change my mind, Nozomi. Just please, keep it a secret from everyone. I don't want to cause any trouble to you guys anymore. This is my choice, and I hope you'll understand that."

"Maki!" Nozomi said, but to no avail. Maki hung up and it only left Nozomi alone. _Maki…this won't help anyone._

"Nozomi?" Eli said as she opened the bathroom door. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Nozomi said. She didn't want to anger Maki or cause more distress to a person that actually talks to the red-head. "Just wanted to think about things."

"Well, come back to bed soon. I miss your warmth," Eli said kindly. Nozomi faintly smiled as the door closed, but it soon went away as she kept thinking about Maki's words.

* * *

It was a normal day. Umi, Kotori, and Eli were getting some food prepared for lunch. It could only be them three as Hanayo and Rin had some trip in a different part of Japan and Nozomi was swamped with work.

"Is the salad almost ready?" Eli asked as she was getting some meat out of the oven.

"Yeah! Just making the dressing!" Umi responded. "Kotori, is the table set up?"

"Yes!" The ash-brunette said.

 _ **RING!**_

"I'll get it!" Kotori said as the phone rang. "Hello?"

"Kotori?"

"Honoka-chan?" Kotori said in shock. Hearing the familiar name made Eli and Umi stop in their tracks.

"Is Umi and Eli there?"

"Y-Yes," Kotori stuttered out.

"Can you bring them here? And then put the phone on speaker?"

"Y-Yeah. Okay," Kotori replied. "Eli-chan, Umi-chan. It's Honoka-chan. She wants to talk to us."

The two put down their things and walked over to the phone. Kotori put the speaker on and rested the phone on the dining table. "Okay, Honoka-chan. We're all here."

"I'm sorry."

None of them were expecting an apology.

"Two years of not seeing you guys…I feel so bad. Just thinking about it, you did nothing wrong. Any of you. Maki was just as hurt as I was. I felt guilty, but I only thought of myself. Maki was just as guilty, and she probably felt all of that guilt. I can't blame you for wanting to make sure she was okay. It was my mind that wasn't in the right place when I said all of those things to you. I'm happy that you were there for her.

"Hanayo, Rin, and Nozomi have really helped me through everything. And yet, I still feel so bad. I drove you all away, my wife died because of my stupid actions, and my life just feels so empty. I want you to know that I love you guys. I hope I get to see you guys again."

The tone that Honoka said that last line was chilling.

"Honoka?" Umi said, but all they got was a dead line.

"Hurry!" Kotori exclaimed. "We have to go to their house!"

The three got their things and made a dash to Hanayo and Rin's house.

"Call 119! Tell them to go to their house!" Kotori demanded. No one was going to argue with her though.

…

"HONOKA!" Eli screamed as she pounded the door. "HONOKA!" _It's just like when Nico passed…_

"Here!" Umi handed Eli the key. None of them could remember where Hanayo said the spare key was. It was hard to find, but they found it in a stray flower pot.

"Kotori, keep watch for the paramedics. Umi, check upstairs. I'll check downstairs," Eli explained as she unlocked the door. The two ran in, with Umi immediately running up the stairs. The blonde expected Honoka to be in the living room-

"HONOKA!" Umi screamed. Eli ran upstairs to the sound of the voice. It led her to the bedroom. And she could only look at the room in horror.

She had a bottle of alcohol which was completely empty. Her anti-depressant medication was also finished. The woman was unconscious, and her lips were blue.

"HONOKA!" Umi screamed out again, trying anything to wake her friend up. She couldn't feel any breathing coming from Honoka, and she could see that there was vomit that was in her throat. She tilted Honoka's head to let the vomit drain out. She hoped that it would allow Honoka to breath. And yet, she felt nothing. "PLEASE…wake up…" Umi said in a small voice. She wanted to hope something could be done, but she knew that it was too late.

"Please let us through," a paramedic said. Umi turned to see the paramedics with a stretcher. "We need to check on her."

Umi could only nod. She obeyed the command and moved out to be beside Eli and Kotori. The three of them were crying, not wanting to believe that Honoka is gone. But, from what they were hearing from the paramedics, there was no way that their friend could be alive. They wanted to believe that there was hope.

"I'll call everyone…" Eli said through her tears.

…

The three women ran to the room that was holding Honoka. As they entered, they saw Eli standing alone crying, and Umi and Kotori were hugging each other and sobbing.

"No…" Nozomi said, getting the attention of the three women in the room. Eli could only nod as she motioned them to come inside.

As they went inside, they saw Honoka's lifeless body on the bed.

"Are these your other friends?" A doctor said from behind.

"Yes, doctor," Eli replied.

"Hello," the doctor solemnly greeted. "I'm sorry to say that Honoka has passed away."

Hearing it aloud made them all start to cry, albeit not loud enough to interrupt the doctor. They wanted to hear the complications.

"It looks like she overdosed off of alcohol and medication. She also had some vomit that blocked off her breathing. She suffocated as well."

"We…" Hanayo said. "We never bought alcohol…did she buy it herself?"

"I'm so sorry for your loss. We tried everything that we could, but it was too late."

"Thank you…" Eli took a breath. "Thank you, doctor. We appreciate your effort."

The doctor bowed before he left. It left the six girls alone with the lifeless corpse.

"Damn it!" Rin gritted. "She was fine yesterday. We thought that Honoka-chan was getting over it. She seemed fine…"

"I guess that wasn't enough…" Nozomi said drearily.

"Two of our friends are gone…Why did it have to be like this?" Hanayo said.

They all wanted to be strong. Only showing their tears was the one thing that they wanted to do.

"Kotori…we wanted…to stay strong," Umi said, fighting back her tears through each pause.

"I can't!" Kotori wailed out. "Everything is messed up now! Our friends are leaving us so soon…Nico's heart gave out because of love…Honoka couldn't live with herself and killed herself…I don't know what could happen now…none of us can!"

"I know," Umi said, rubbing Kotori's arm. "We just have…to stay strong. They wouldn't want to see us like this." She could only feel Kotori shudder and cry more, so she didn't want to keep saying things that would have no meaning.

"I'll tell Maki," Eli said to the room. "I'll tell her to come after the burial."

The room collectively nodded, agreeing with this plan.

…

"She's…dead?" Maki said drearily. She wasn't expecting such a depressing message when Eli called her up.

"Yes," Eli said. "She overdosed and choked on her vomit. No one was around to stop her, and we got there too late…" The blonde sniffled, not wanting to cry in front of her friend. "You don't need to come here if you don't want to. We all agreed that it would be best if you knew that Honoka passed."

"It…It is. Thank you for letting me know," Maki said, still in disbelief. "I…I don't know when I can come back."

"Like I said, you-"

"I know what you said," Maki interrupted the blonde. "I just feel like if I want to come back, I want to stay there."

"Why?" Eli asked. "Aren't you happy being there?"

The red-head sighed. "I'm not sure, to be honest. I do love it here. But…it's not like being around the friends I grew up with. I feel like I should just accept that everything can't be alright anymore. With Honoka's death, that's just showing it off more. I want to tell them my thoughts, and I think it would be better if I could do that everyday."

"That…sounds nice," Eli commented.

"It's what's best, at least to me. I'll be there eventually. Can you tell the others that?"

Eli nodded. "It'll be nice to see you all the time again."

Maki dryly laughed. "Yeah, when I'm balancing work over there with me mulling over my thoughts. It would be nice to have my friends actually beside me while I do that."

"I'll see you soon, Maki."

"Bye, Eli."

Hanging up the call, Maki trudged over and flopped onto her bed.

 _She's really gone. They're both dead._

 _I'll never be able to show how sorry I am._


	12. Epilogue

The red-head got off the plane and took a deep breath. _It's been a while, hasn't it?_

"Maki-chan!" Rin called out. Turning around, she saw said girl along with all of her other friends. _Well, not_ _ **all**_ _of my friends._

"Hello, Rin. Everyone," Maki greeted as she bowed to all of them.

Kotori softly laughed. "No need to be so formal, Maki-chan. Remember, we're friends here."

Maki softly laughed back. "Oh yeah."

"Uh…What happened to your finger, Maki-chan?" Hanayo asked. She pointed to Maki's right hand, which was missing her last digit.

She and Nozomi weren't on the same page (after their talk, they hadn't talked for half a year and even more now). One thing that she was glad for was that Nozomi kept her promise. "Ah, this."

She lifted her hand up and wiggled all of her fingers that could move. "My pinkie was hurting so much that I couldn't focus on work or sleep. I asked the hospital to get me an amputation, and it's been a charm."

"Well…we're glad you aren't too hurt. You're going to be staying in Japan from now on, right?" Umi said to which Maki nodded.

"I'll be living alone, yeah."

"Don't be silly," Eli said. "We got a house that could fit all seven of us. It'll be like when we were in your beach house."

Maki smiled. "I guess that's better than sulking alone."

"It's close-by to everything, so we won't have to worry about travel. Once we heard you were coming back to stay, we couldn't help it but make sure we were all in the same place," Hanayo explained. "Welcome back, Maki-chan!"

"I guess it's good to be back," Maki said. "Is it okay…"

"Yes," Kotori said. "It's fine. You'll ride with Umi-chan and I."

Maki nodded, and the seven women went to the graves of their two friends.

…

"Do you want us to come with you?" Eli asked.

"No," Maki replied. "I want it to be just me and the two tombstones."

"Alright," Eli said awkwardly. "We'll just be at the nearby café."

"Got it."

They said their goodbyes as Maki headed up the stairs. She found the graves quickly with some help from Kotori. She knelt down and looked at the two tombstones.

"It's been a while, huh? I wish that I got to say goodbye to you, Honoka. But…I don't think that would have been appreciated. I really wanted to forget about all of this. I even got my finger amputated. But, how could I forget any of this. This…fucked-up life that we had to live.

"I don't think I'll be seeing you guys again. When I'm gone, you two will be together again while I'm rotting away. It wasn't Honoka's fault that this happened. It was mine, and I'll never live it down. I killed you two because of my selfishness.

"I just hope that nothing like this will happen again. Everyday, I feel like I want to die with what I did. The only reason I want to live is for our friends can't get hurt again.

"Nico, I'm sorry that I went and slept with Honoka. We were always so annoying to each other, but we knew that it was just us being friends. When I did that…I knew that I could never get you back as a friend. I learned that you loved me as well. I'm thankful you stopped, because you wouldn't want to live with this disgusting person.

"Honoka, I can't ever forgive myself for what I did. I undeservedly love you still, and I don't think I ever could stop. I'm sorry for being such a despicable person.

"I don't ever want to be forgiven if I get the chance to meet you two again. I don't deserve it. I just hope that I'll be a better person and make sure that everyone else that's in my life now will be happy."

"That's admirable, Maki-chan," Nozomi said, making the red-head turn around.

"N-Nozomi?!"

"I don't think I can forgive you, sadly," the purple-haired girl said. "Nico-chi was too close to my heart, and our friendships were almost ruined because of you."

"P-Please, Nozomi. You know I don't deserve that forgiveness. It's al-"

She was interrupted by a sudden hug. "Maybe…we'll just have a 'new' life. We'll always remember Honoka-chan and Nico-chi. And…we'll get to grow up together again. All of us."

Maki started to cry into Nozomi's shoulder. She could only say, "I'm sorry," as she continuously cried. Nozomi didn't move an inch.

"Let's just hope we can live together. In peace."

* * *

 **A/N: It wasn't going to be a happy ending, was it?**

 **FINALLY! An ending that I think is good! It has some depressing moods in it, but there is a light. A small one.**

 **If you're wondering why Maki has an amputated finger, just go back to the day after she and Honoka had their affair. Maybe you'll understand then. I didn't want to 'explicitly' say it (although, if you remember that scene, what I said was explicit enough).**

 **I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I liked writing it. And re-writing it. Speaking of which, there's a surprise!**

 **I PM'ed** Risilence, **an avid reader and reviewer of this fic, and decided that I'll be uploading the original chapters and endings of this story. After re-formatting it, I'll be putting out the original ideas that I had to end this story. They are not the best (That's the whole reason I wanted to re-write this thing so much), but I want to show the readers what my ideas were before. Hopefully, you'll like it!**

 **Anyways, I'm happy to say that this story is over. Leave favourites if you actually enjoyed it, and leave (preferably lengthy) reviews as to what you liked/disliked.**

 **Thanks for Reading!**


	13. Chapter 7 (Alt)

Honoka barged into the hospital and went right to the receptionist. "Yazawa Nico! Where…Where is…she?" Honoka asked desperately in short breaths.

The receptionist looked through the computer and saw Nico's room. "2-G."

The orange-haired girl bowed before dashing to the room.

Once she got there, she peered her head into the door. She saw purple hair from the curtain, so she knew that Nozomi and Eli were there.

"Hey," Honoka said. The married couple looked over to see the orange-haired girl and smiled. However, Honoka thought that she saw a look of hate from them. "Nico-chan's here?"

"Yeah, come on over," Nozomi said.

Honoka took a seat and held Nico's hand. "How are you feeling, Nico-chan?"

She saw that Nico was just staring outside the window, her hand supporting her chin. The black-haired girl sighed. "Eli, Nozomi. Can you leave for a bit? And if you haven't, call everyone from Muse."

"Even…" Nozomi was going to ask, "Even Maki-chan?" before she remembered that Honoka was here. They knew the reason why Nico had the sudden attack; the doctor explained everything once she was finished with her emergency check-up and they just connected the dots after they knew.

"Yes, even her." Nico coldly said, which made Nozomi and Eli shrivel up and obey Nico's command. "They would want to check up on me since this happened, right?"

"Right…" Eli said. So, she and Nozomi went outside to call the five other women.

Once the two women left the room, the other married couple were alone in the room. Honoka brought Nico's hand to her lips and kissed it. "How are you, Nico-chan?"

Nico still didn't turn her head to her wife, which was making Honoka a bit irritated. However, she knew not to be angry at someone who just finished a surgery.

"I don't know," Nico replied sarcastically. "I could be better."

Honoka dryly laughed. "Always a joker, huh."

"How could you do this to me?" Nico asked which, for Honoka, was out of the blue. "After everything we've been through?"

"What do you mean Nico-chan?"

The older woman sighed. "You know what happened, Honoka? I got something called 'broken-heart syndrome.'"

"Why did that happen?"

" **Don't play dumb with me, Honoka!** " Nico nearly screamed at her wife. She harshly pulled her hand away from Honoka's grasp.

"W-What do you mean?" Honoka nervously asked.

"You HAD SEX with Maki! I know, Honoka!" Nico said to her wife as she turned her head to face Honoka. Honoka saw the tear-stained cheek on her wife's face.

Honoka's mouth was dry. She was barely able to get her words out. "…How did you know?"

"You remember that day? When you were getting fucked by that red-headed bitch?" Nico said, not restricting herself from being harsh and cold to her wife. "I came home early. Sure, I lied about when my tour was finished. But you know, it would have been a nice surprise. My wife welcomes me home with loving arms, and all that shit.

But no, I get welcomed home by my wife being fucked by someone I called my friend. Hell, I called you my best friend!"

"N-Nico-chan!" Honoka grabbed Nico's wrist with any ounce of strength she had. Hearing that Nico saw her having sex with Maki made Honoka feel like any amount of strength had drained out of her. "I…I'm so sorry!"

 _ **SLAP!**_

Nico loosened her wrist from Honoka's grasp and gave her a hard slap on the cheek. "Do you think sorry is going to cut it? Really?"

"I-"

"We're married! Breaking my trust isn't something that can be easily fixed! And of course, it had to be Maki. I thought everything about her would have been gone. Eight years, Honoka. EIGHT FUCKING YEARS! You had six to get rid of them. I truly love you and yet, your first love could do that to you? She was able to fuck you behind my back? Forget about everything that we've been through?

"And if I didn't see it, I know you two would break. I'm a bit happy that I found out like this. I learned how much of a selfish, awful bitch you are.

"Now, go away. And tell Maki to stay away from me too. I don't ever want to see you again."

"Nico-"

"I SAID GO!" Nico shouted before she turned her back on the person she loved.

Unfortunately, the others came right as Nico finished her tirade. And they heard nearly everything. They looked at Maki. As Maki observed their faces, she could see the betrayed expression on their face.

They turned to see Honoka walk out of the room, very distraught.

"Honoka-chan…" Umi tried to say to get her attention, but her best friend brushed her aside and kept walking. "I'm going to talk to her; I don't want her to do something stupid. Kotori, could you come with me?" And Kotori nodded.

With Umi, Kotori, and Honoka gone, that left Eli, Nozomi, Rin, Hanayo, and Maki outside of Nico's room.

"Maki-chan, where are you going?" Rin asked as she saw Maki start to walk away.

"You heard her, Rin. She doesn't want to see me. To be honest, I couldn't even think about looking at her."

"Maki, don't leave. We'll talk to you." Eli motioned to her and Nozomi. "Rin and Hanayo didn't get to talk to her. I guess neither did Umi or Kotori, but they do have their best friend to worry about."

"Why are you trying to help me?" Maki asked. "You know what I've done. I betrayed a person who I called a friend. I betrayed the person I love. I'm making them break-up after so long. I'm the problem!"

"Just…" Nozomi and Eli took a hold of Maki's hands. "…Trust us."

"...Fine."

"Rin, Hanayo. Just talk with her. She would want to see her friends." Eli explained as the two nodded. Eli, Nozomi, and Maki left and the remaining two went into Nico's room.

"Nico-chan?" Hanayo said, causing the woman's head to turn.

"Ah! Rin and Hanayo! Can I get a hug?" Nico asked politely. The two didn't argue and hugged her.

While in their embrace, Nico started to cry.

"Nico-chin?" Rin heard the sobs and brought Nico to face her. "Stop crying…"

"I can't…I feel so hurt, so betrayed that Honoka and Maki would do this to me. I should hate them…but I can't, even with how much I want to!"

"Nico-chan…"

"Maki is still such a close friend. And Honoka…I still love her so much."

"But you said that you never want to see them again," Rin stated.

"I guess that I'm trying to be Honoka. Just…trying to forget her."

"Do you think you two will be okay again?" Rin asked.

Nico shook her head. "I don't think so. I may love her but…this was a bit too far."

"Do you think she still loves you?" Hanayo asked.

Nico sobbed a bit harder. "Yes, I think she does." She pressed her head against Hanayo's shoulder. "I wish it didn't have to be like this."

"None of us do, Nico-chan," Hanayo said. "Just give it time. A lot of time. And maybe, we'll be like how we were before."

"I hope so."

…

"Honoka-chan!" Kotori called out. They chased Honoka to the hospital driveway and their best friend was just about to leave the premises.

"What? You're going to try to talk to me? Talk to Nico-chan! She deserves it so much more that I do!"

"Honoka-chan. We're your friends. Your best friends. We don't want you to do anything that could hurt you," Umi told her.

"I deserve it! I deserve to be hurt! I'm the worst person ever! I cheated on Nico-chan with someone I used to love. Someone that we both consider a friend. I ruin everything, so just sto-"

She was interrupted when she felt her two best friends hugging her.

"I know that this was rough. You are in the wrong, so much. As is Maki-chan. But, you can fix this. Not now, not for a while. This really messed up everything. But, it will all be okay," Umi finished speaking as she tightened her hug.

Instead of responding, Honoka cried into her friend's shoulders. _I don't deserve their kindness. But I'm happy that I can get it._

…

"Yeah, you really fucked up," Nozomi said to the red-head.

"Thanks for the encouragement. Kick me while I'm down, why don't you? Oh wait, you did," Maki sarcastically said. "I feel awful, and I don't think I can do anything to fix it."

Eli grabbed Maki's hand. "I'm not going to sugar coat this, Maki. I really don't think you can. This is very serious."

"I know," Maki said as she took a sip of water. "I did so well to hide my feelings for all these years. I just couldn't control it for that one day. Fuck."

"You'll just have to give it time," Nozomi said. "No, you can't ever be Honoka-chan's girlfriend. You really messed her up. And Nico-chi must be mad at both you and Honoka-chan. I don't know if it's true, but it's a saying that 'time heals all wounds.' Maybe it's true for this as well."

"Aren't you two angry as well? She's your best friend." Maki looked to her two seniors, hoping to hear something.

"I wouldn't say angry…well, a bit angry," Eli said. "I just think that we're really more disappointed. We're not directly affected by this. It'll put a strain on our friendship, but I think it will be okay when we're all ready to forgive."

"That…That sounds fair."

"Hey," Nozomi nudged Maki to get her attention. "Give it time. Relax for a week or so. You really need to think about what happened."

"Yeah…I do. Thanks."

...

Nico decided that a letter would be good to write. She didn't want to show her true feelings to everyone. But specifically, show her true feelings to Maki and Honoka.

She still saw Maki as a friend. What she did was unforgivable, Nico knew that. But, she felt like she wanted to forgive her. She didn't want to break bonds with any of her friends, even if things went really bad. Yes, it will take time for her to truly forgive the red-head, but she knew that she would eventually. She would even give her the blessing to be with Honoka if things went awry. Even after everything she put Nico and Honoka through, she couldn't help but think that Maki is the best person for her wife and for her.

She wanted to hate her wife. But, she couldn't stop loving Honoka. She poured her all into making her wife proud. She told her that she never wanted to see her again, but of course it was a lie. She couldn't face her now, though. That scene was still very fresh in her mind, and she wanted to get past that as fast as she could. Once she could truly forgive her, she would happily take Honoka back with open arms.

She was approaching her final thoughts in her letter.

"I can't tell you how much I love you, Honoka. Even with everything that happened and with how much it hurt me, I know I will never stop loving you. It hurts to love you."

 _It's…It's that sharp…pain again! OW!_

She hit the doctor alert button as she began to take short breaths.

 _It…hurts…so…bad!_

She heard the rapid footsteps approaching the door.

And then, it was silent.


	14. Chapter 8 (Alt Ending)

"WHAT?!" Honoka nearly screamed when she heard the news from the doctor.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Yazawa. Your wife passed in the middle of the night," the doctor explained.

She was wiping away her tears and she felt her body get heavier by the minute. "How? What happened?"

"It seems that the 'heartbreak syndrome' she suffered yesterday happened again. It was not enough for her heart to take, since she was still recovering from the previous attack."

 _It was all my fault again. She thought about me and Maki-chan sleeping together, and her heart gave out. Stupid! I ruined everything and now…_

 _I can't even show her how much I'm sorry._

 _I can't show her how much I love her._

 _I don't get a second chance._

"Mrs. Yazawa?" The doctor said, bringing Honoka out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Sorry, what is it?"

"Before we moved the body, we saw this on her table. I believe it is for you."

Honoka saw the pieces of papers in the doctor's hand. So, she took it, thanked him, and sat outside of the room.

 _This was the last thing she did before she passed. A letter._

* * *

 _ **To my beloved wife,**_

 _ **This is a letter to tell you about my true feelings. I will give this to you when we hopefully get back together.**_

 _ **I am very hurt that you slept with Maki when I was away. To have the woman I love be with another person, a person that I knew she had strong feelings before. It hurt. Although, you already knew that. I spoke to you about it, and I know you remember it. I slapped you, shouted at you, made you feel the same way I did.**_

 _ **It felt right. To get all of my feelings out there while they were still fresh in my mind.**_

 _ **But it was only the feelings on the surface that I said. Inside, I couldn't be more conflicted.**_

 _ **Yes, it wasn't right for you or Maki to have sex. You're married, and I thought we got over that hurdle of liking her.**_

 _ **When you guys did that, I wanted to be like you. I wanted to forget about everything that happened. I wanted to forget about you and Maki.**_

 _ **And yet, I couldn't.**_

 _ **I love you both so much. I said that I wanted to never see you again. That was a complete lie. My life wouldn't be complete without having all of my friends around me. And I couldn't be complete without you by my side.**_

 _ **I wanted to hate Maki. I wouldn't think you would push advances on her, so she would be the person that seduced you. What she did was a complete betrayal of our friendship. And yet, I still saw her as a friend. I guess her love for you never went away. I can't forgive her now, but I want to be able to. I want to push away everything between us and I want us to be friends again. I wouldn't even be opposed to you falling for her. I would for sure hate it, but I can't deny that she makes you happy as well.**_

 _ **I wanted to hate you too. Our years of being together were wasted all because you decided to let your high school self take over and sleep with Maki. But, there was only one person I truly loved. Once I could never EVER stop loving. And it's you. We can't be together for a long time. This really messed me up. But, if everything goes away and we could make up, I would be happy. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to be with you again.**_

 _ **I can't tell you how much I love you, Honoka. Even with everything that happened and with how much it hurt me, I know I will never stop loving you. It hurts to love you**_

* * *

 _She didn't even get to finish her letter. But, all I can see is that she still loved me. She still wanted us to be together in the end. After the hell I put her through, she would still want to be with me._

 _An idiotic wife who betrayed everything a marriage was._

 _You loved me too much, Nico-chan. You loved an idiot. I know this won't help, but I hope that you know how sorry I am._

 _I know I was a shitty wife, but I want you to know that I loved you. Even after my fling with Maki-chan, I knew it was wrong. I knew that this would hurt you. And I hated myself for that. I didn't want to hurt the person I love, and yet I did._

 _I want to say I'm sorry. I guess it will have to wait._

Honoka carefully folded up the letter and placed it into her pocket. She saw the doctor, and remembered an important question she wanted to ask.

"Umm, sir," She said, getting the doctor's attention. "Was Nico-chan thinking about bad things when she…passed?" She barely managed to say, now that she was a widow.

"Well, not exactly." The doctor saw the confused look on Honoka's face, so he continued. "'Heartbreak Syndrome' doesn't only happen when someone is going through heartbreak. It stems from extreme emotion; bad things like divorce or a break-up, or good things like winning a large amount of money or even falling in love."

"What about having a lot of love for a person?"

"Maybe, who knows. I know that this is a lot for you to take in. She had just passed, and I don't want to be insensitive."

"You're not," Honoka said as she wiped away a tear. "I just wanted to hear that. Thank you for taking care of her and doing everything to save her."

The two bowed and went their separate ways.

When she turned around, she saw all of her friends with pained expressions.

"Honoka-chan," both Umi and Kotori said before hugging their best friend, "I'm sorry."

"I…I can't believe…that she's gone…" Honoka cried into their shoulders, letting her tears flow.

"Nico-chan still loved you!" Hanayo said, trying to cheer up her mourning friend.

"Thank you, Hanayo-chan. I know she did." Honoka ruffled through her jacket pockets to find the letter. "She…Nico-chan wrote this…the last thing before she passed…" Honoka sat on the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her face in them to hide her tears. "I never made up with her. And now, I never will."

"What did the letter say, if you don't mind?" Eli hesitantly asked.

Honoka opened the letter again and skimmed through it, clutching it harder with every word she read. "Just about what happened with us. She would have taken time to get over it, but she would have wanted to get back together. She loved me too much that it killed her." Honoka's tears were endless, and she couldn't find anyway to stop them. "M-Maki-chan."

"Huh?" The last person she thought Honoka would want to talk to was her. She saw Honoka motion her to come down to her level.

No one expected a kiss to happen between the two.

"H-Honoka!" Maki said as she pushed her love away. "What are you doing?"

"She talked about you as well, Maki-chan. She still wanted to be your friend, even after what we did. She even said that she would let you take me away."

"Are you serious?" Maki looked at the letter in front of her and saw everything that Nico said about her. "Why?"

"Please, Maki-chan!" Honoka held the red-head's hands.

"Of course I will."

* * *

Three years of being with Honoka after Nico's death.

I can say that it's been great.

While I'm out doing my job in the hospital, I have a loving woman who I can come back home to every night.

She's an amazing cook, a beautiful singer, and a wonderful woman. I'm happy to have her in my life.

And yet, I know she'll never be truly mine. And I can say that I am okay with it. With all of the things I put her through, I don't even deserve this chance.

We have a special area for Nico, right by the dining room. As she always does, she tends to keep that place extremely clean, not stopping until all of the dust is gone. She always gives Nico her share of dinner, and I pray with her everyday, praying that Nico is having a good afterlife.

There is a part of me that is upset that I can't ever be Honoka's true love.

But, that's all put aside to make sure she is happy. I want her to be. She deserves it.

* * *

 **A/N: God, I hated re-reading this. How could I have just let everything slide? I read the ending of this and thought that it was a "bad" ending. To be honest, it's the best possible outcome that could have happened, and why should it end on a semi-good note?**

 **Oh well, I wrote it in the past. I'm so happy that I decided to redo my chapters and make it longer. This would have been a sour note to end my story on, and not just for you people reading it.**

 **Anyways, that's it! The 'official' last chapters of this story. I hope you enjoyed reading it! Leave favourites if you liked it and please leave reviews with some feedback. I'm always ready to take criticism to improve my writing.**

 **Thanks for Reading!**


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